Happily Ever Aftermath
by Lady Asvin
Summary: When the war has a few unexpected consequences, can the close-knit Gaang pull through the rebuilding of its world? No flames, please; constructive criticism always welcome. This is how a Zutarian handles the season finale : Read&review.
1. Reunion

_Disclaimer: _I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Ahn Li, Cho Li, Dao, Yun and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

_Is it possible to make such a huge mistake at my age?_ The girl's blue eyes wandered over the ice walls of her hut. Much different from the fine green linens and light woods of Ba Sing Se, and the regal scarlet silks and metals of the Fire Nation, the Southern Water Tribe hut nonetheless held its own charm. Animal skins decorated the walls, and fur coverlets thrown in a raised corner served as a bed. A single shelf of ice held a leather waterskin and a hat and veil. The only thing out of place in the room was a tiny hair comb made of onyx. It was a souvenir from the Fire Nation. The hut's inhabitant, though, was far too caught up in her own thoughts to notice the scenery; she was expecting company, and her memories for some reason had decided to attack fiercely – too fiercely. She shook her head and tried to clear the dull ache that had grown since she had left the Fire Nation. It was moments later that she heard the sound of boots crunching in the snow and rose, tugging a fur-lined parka around her torso. The door opened and she was greeted by flying arms and legs and smiles. Giggling, she attempted to smooth her hair back into its rightful place.

"KATARA! It's been so _loooooong_," said her brother, as usual overdramatic to the nth degree. _I wonder if he's been hitting the cactus juice. _His fiancée Suki nodded.

"Really Katara – if you'd only see how the Fire Nation's changed," she said, and gave the girl a warm hug. Katara's blue eyes widened in surprise as the Kyoshi warrior pulled away.

"Suki? Is that-" A loud voice interrupted her as the door crashed open yet again.

"I _hate_ snow. Can't see a thing in the stuff… hey, Sugar Queen!" Toph had arrived. Katara hugged her too, comment to Suki completely abandoned. Suki herself sighed in relief; she had a long night of stories for Katara, but they were not for prying ears. The waterbender looked around, confusion etched on her face. Sokka followed her eyes to the door and answered her unasked question.

"Aang's talking to dad. Don't worry," he added. "We would never leave your lover boy behind, and he's dying to see you. He just wanted to talk to dad first…" Katara waited for the blush that would usually rise at the mention of Aang's name – even at the teasing 'lover boy'- but it never came. Instead, her mind presented her with a vision: a tense, muscled body, flying through the air, blocking those fatal ribbons of energy…

"Katara. _Katara_?" She snapped out of it and grinned faintly.

"Sorry guys, I guess I got lost in thought. What were you saying?" Sokka slapped his forehead.

"I _said_, let's go see Aang! We left him at the headman's hut with dad and Gran-Gran…" Katara nodded and rose. Sokka lifted Toph onto his back ("For old times' sake") and followed Suki out the door of the hut, with Katara bringing up the rear. It was a short hike to the headman's hut in the center of the village, over some small hills. The village had grown into a bustling town of one-hundred and fifty people, all spread out in a valley between two frigid glaciers. They reached the hut and let themselves in, brushing off snow as they entered. Katara smiled, a genuine smile for the first time that morning.

"Aang!" The airbender looked startled and turned to the door where Katara stood, straightening her parka. The light from the doorway caught her necklace, blue pendant gleaming in the bright rays. Aang smiled wide and bounded toward her.

"Katara!" He stopped a few inches short of her and bounced on the balls of his feet. "It's amazing Katara. The Fire Nation has completely turned around… Bumi and General Iroh and all the old masters are advisors to the court and negotiations with the Earth Kingdom are progressing-" a door at the other end of the hut opened, blinding the group within. Two silhouettes appeared in the larger doorway, deep into a discussion on Water Tribe alliances and political etiquette.

"Thank you, Master Pakku," said the younger voice. "I will be sure to keep that in mind." The door swung closed as the two bowed to each other; Aang, Katara and the rest waited for their vision to readjust. Master Pakku came forward and Katara bowed deeply.

"Greetings, Master Pakku… grandpa," she smiled and gave him a bear hug. After receiving the same treatment from Sokka and bows from the rest, Pakku stepped aside to introduce his conversation partner. A red hood fell back to reveal a gleaming golden flame set into a black topknot. Katara's breath came short… _Hey. Zuko here._

Pakku gestured toward him. "May I introduce- or re-introduce- Fire Lord Zuko?" The firebender bowed and smiled sheepishly. Pakku left them to their conversation and began discussing trade with Hakoda, leading him away.

"Hey guys," said Zuko, scratching his head. The air was silent for a moment, and then:

"HEY, SPARKY!" The group laughed, and just like that, the ice was broken. Katara couldn't believe what she saw. The awkward, struggling boy with the broken spirit had turned into a man, flushed with confidence and vigor. She didn't doubt his girlfriend had something to do with it – she knew better than most the power of a woman on a man's ego – but his posture and ease came from accomplishment. From the feeling of having righted a terrible wrong. _Thank you, Katara. _A slight smile. _No, I should be the one thanking you_. She was again sinking into that wide-eyed stupor, memories rushing in to fill her already-overloaded brain-

"Hey… are you coming?" Her thoughts came to a screeching halt, that husky half-voice squeezing them abruptly out of her head for the present. A blush rose on her face, branding her cheeks.

"W- where are we going?" The Fire Lord smiled, a tiny smile, and almost looked as he had when he was traveling with them. The boy Katara once knew had finally made his grand entrance.

"Aang told us on the way here that you're the best guide in the Southern Water tribe. I thought I'd ask for a tour, since I've never been…" Aang, to whom the idea had seemed peachy on the ship, hadn't missed Katara's telltale blush. Grabbing her hand firmly, he nodded and smiled a forced smile. _Didn't I just tell you I was confused?_ Fighting a sudden surge of painful memories, he turned to the group.

"Let's go!" He said, falsely bright. "I want to go penguin-sledding…" Katara followed him out of the hut, and the rest of the long, South Pole day was spent introducing the mighty Fire Lord to the treasures and secrets of the Southern Water tribe.

"Good night, Sokka," said Suki, later that night. The Kyoshi warrior pulled him into one last, long kiss before disappearing back into Katara's room. They were sharing for the time being, until a new hut could be built. Suki had decided to stay close to Sokka, and if they were to marry they would need their own hut.

Katara had been interrupted earlier in the day by the arrival of Toph and others, but her question to Suki was by no means forgotten. She waited until the other girl had settled down in a pile of furs before fixing her with a no-nonsense stare. The Kyoshi warrior felt it, but couldn't bring herself to meet the waterbender's fierce gaze.

"You're pregnant." It wasn't a question, it was an accusation. Suki nodded. Katara sat up quickly on her furs and exhaled loudly.

"I'll _kill_ Sokka! You're not married! You're not even seventeen! What was he _thinking-_"

"It's not Sokka's." The warrior girl had her head down and was fiddling with the still-attached paws of one of her blankets. Katara blinked owlishly.

"Wait- _what_? Did you- but you wouldn't-" Suki began to cry. Katara crawled off her bed and went to put an arm around Suki's shoulders. Meeting her at eye-level, Katara asked softly, "What happened?" Suki lifted her tunic top to reveal her growing stomach; a hard little bulge had already formed, jutting out of the warrior's normally trim figure. She blinked back tears and put a hand on the firm roundedness that her stomach had become.

Turning to Katara, she whispered, "How far along do you think I am?" Katara looked at the warrior, examining the bulge thoughtfully. She had delivered a few babies since returning home, and helped with backaches in the young, pregnant women of the water tribe. Suki wasn't in the late stages, but it wasn't a recent happening either… _The numbers here aren't adding up! The war only ended two months ago!_ But that would mean…

"Oh, Suki," she whispered, squeezing her friend tightly. "Oh, no. What happened? Does Sokka know? It was in that prison, wasn't it…" The warrior couldn't stop the flood of tears now; ever since she had discovered she was pregnant, she had wondered who to tell, how they would judge her, who would understand. She had decided to tell only Katara… not even her Kyoshi girls knew. She rocked back and forth in her friend's embrace, letting go of months of fear and frustration. Katara just patted the girl's head and murmured soothing nonsense, knowing that nothing she could say would ease the other girl's pain. When she had cried her eyes dry, Suki gratefully accepted the handkerchief offered by Katara. She worried the blue embroidery restlessly with her fingers, getting ready to talk. Katara merely waited. Finally, Suki sighed and looked up.

"I don't even really know how far along I am. I want to say I'm about three or four months pregnant…" she sighed. "It must have happened around the time I first got to the Boiling Rock prison. I was kept with another woman prisoner, of course, but when we were let into the yards everyone was together." Katara settled back into the blanket, staring at Suki intently. The warrior continued.

"I was taken in from the yards regularly, for questioning. About Aang, and the group… Sokka especially. So they could track you, I'd imagine. But in one of those training sessions…" she wrapped her arms around her shoulders and shuddered. "There was a guard named Li Feng. He was old and tough as stone… but he had a reputation for misbehaving with the women prisoners. They brought me to him. A 'special session', they told me…" She had begun to cry again, and Katara hugged her tightly. She continued, sniffing.

"It was terrible. I tried to close my eyes… I wanted to die, to break into a million pieces and disappear. I wanted to just run and hide… I kept calling for Sokka to save me, even though he wasn't there."

"So _that's_ what Azula meant," murmured Katara. "That's disgusting." Suki cried into Katara's tunic, shoulders shaking with pent-up frustration and fear.

"I don't know what to do," she said in a small voice. Katara propped her up on a pile of furs.

"Well, the first thing I'm going to do is get Gran-Gran." She made a move to get up, but Suki grabbed her arm.

"No! I don't want this getting out… I don't want Sokka to know, I can't do this to him, I-" Katara wriggled out of her friend's grip and put a heavy parka over her nightclothes.

"Don't be ridiculous. The last thing we need is you passing out or something because you don't know how to take care of a baby. Ah- ah-" Suki was trying to say something, but Katara cut her off. "At least let Gran-Gran take a look. She can tell you if the baby is healthy. She'll keep it a secret," added Katara. "Although by the looks of it, it may not be a secret for long." Suki sank back into her furs and glared balefully at her friend, but relief overcame irritation and she yawned.

"Fine," she said. "But please… don't tell Sokka." Katara held her eyes and nodded, as sure a promise as any. She opened the door, letting a blast of cold air into the hut, and disappeared into the night. Suki's last thought before going to sleep was: _finally_.


	2. Exposure

Disclaimer: I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Ahn Li, Cho Li, Dao, Yun and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

The young waterbender knew the snowy landscape like the back of her hand; upon returning from the Fire Nation, she had thrown herself into work: healing, building, needlework, midwifery, cooking for the refugees in the main hut. She had thought her return difficult, but had entered back into daily life willingly. Now she knew, however, that her trials in the Southern Water tribe were nothing compared to Suki's distress, her dismal situation. Katara's footsteps crunched angrily and she clenched her fists. _Stupid Fire Nation pigs! And Azula knew… we knew she'd lost it – like Zuko said once, 'she's slipping' – but this is a new low. I can't believe anyone would let this happen-_

"Oomph!" She was interrupted by a sudden ditch in the clean snow; her foot landed awkwardly and she threw out her arms to prevent landing on her face. She lay there for a few moments, a living snow angel, gathering herself.

"Need some help?" Katara looked up; blue eyes met mismatched gold ones and she nodded.

"Thanks, Zuko." She dusted herself off and accepted his hand. He hauled her out of the snow, and for a moment Katara experienced a combination of butterflies in her stomach and shock at his emanating warmth. Forcing her mind to clear, she smiled nervously.

"You're so warm," she mumbled. "Er – what are you doing up? I thought firebenders rose with the sun and all that…" Zuko looked up at an inky sky, the bright full moon illuminating his scarred face.

"It's hard to sleep here," he admitted finally. He ran a hand through his shaggy hair, flame coronet long relegated to the bottom of some bag or another. Katara knew she should stay and listen, but a tiny window in the back of her mind showed Suki's broken sobbing. She put a hand on the Fire Lord's shoulder and cleared her throat.

"I'm on my way to Gran-Gran and Master Pakku's hut," she said. "I don't know where you're staying, but you're welcome to come along for a little while." Zuko looked surprised at the offer and shuffled his boots in the crackling snow. Katara began to walk away, turning around when she realized he wasn't following her.

"Well?" she said expectantly. Stumbling, the firebender caught up with her, matching her shorter stride with his long legs. They made their way through the snow in silence. It suddenly struck Zuko how different everything had been since the war. He was the Fire Lord, of course. Everyone referred to him as "your highness" or "honorable majesty." He had a "royal consort." _You mean the boring girl with the knives?_ Yeah, her… There were no battles, not anymore; not when his safety was of the utmost importance. _And where were these people when I was banished_? Only mindless drills, now… Not even the occasional mood swing to throw his 'perfect' life off-course, as Mai seemed to be immune to them in her typical, static way. The Old Masters were no different, and the only changes in his ministers from day to day were the problems they spread before him, each one expecting an instant remedy. It was really enough to drive a guy crazy, the way they kept him all bottled up like a model ship.

"We're here. At least… I _think_ this is it." Zuko looked at her questioningly and she adopted a sheepish smile.

"I haven't been here all that long. I'm still learning where everything is. Wait here a minute…" With that, she shoved open the wooden door of the hut and crept inside. Zuko exhaled slowly, a breath of steamy air hissing from his nostrils. He stopped quickly when he realized the doorframe was melting. _Easy, Sifu Hotman. Can't do the heat thing here._ It was interesting to see that the Southern Water tribe had kept its traditional way of life even after the war had ended. The architecture and hunting practices did not vary from those in the books he'd studied as a boy, and from his conversations with Pakku on the ship he knew that arranged marriages and communal child raising were still common. A scraping noise drew him out of his thoughts as the door to the hut opened again. Kanna stepped out first, followed by a fussing Katara.

"Gran-Gran, take the parka. I _know_ you're used to the cold… fine, the other coat will do." Zuko hurried to bow low to the woman he had once used as bait.

"Honorable grandmother," he murmured, keeping his gaze low to the ground. Katara threw him a glance and realized introductions had not been made. _Oh for the love of-_

"Gran-Gran, this is Prin – Fire Lord Zuko. He helped us end the war, and he helped me find the soldier that killed mom." The old woman regarded him gravely, a twinkle in the corners of her old eyes.

"If I recall, young man, you also stomped in here and caused a great mess of the Water Tribe." Zuko had expected it to be brought up, and bowed lower.

"Honorable grandmother, I am truly sorry; I was – I was lost and-" Kanna waved a hand at him for silence and motioned him to stand.

"It's Gran-Gran, child. I'm too old to have such a fancy title." She smiled at the young ruler and jutted her chin toward her granddaughter. "Besides. If Katara has forgiven you, then I see no reason to hold a grudge." Not for the first time since Katara had forgiven him, Zuko felt a leaden weight lift from his back. He smiled faintly and fell behind the two Water Tribe women as they began their walk back toward Katara's hut. It was another ten minutes of hiking, and then the tiny scratched-out ice garden before Katara's door loomed into view. The waterbender let her grandmother in, and then hung in the doorway awkwardly.

"Um… thanks for coming with me. Can you find your way from here?" The firebender nodded. Katara continued. "I would let you in, but it's kind of-"

"Thanks, Katara," said Zuko, cutting her off gently. "My hut is three down from yours, I think. That way," he said, and pointed. "Knock if you need me." Katara nodded in thanks.

"I'll do that. Good night…" And with that, they parted ways. Katara was oddly reminded of Appa's furry back and the pulsing heat of a nearby sleeping body as she closed the door to her hut and joined Gran-Gran and Suki inside. _I'll never forgive him. But I'm ready to forgive you._

Katara waited, perched on her pile of furs, as Gran-Gran conducted a thorough investigation of Suki's sleeping body. When she finished, Katara stood, a worried look on her face. She did not like the expression on Gran-Gran's.

"Well, Katara, your friend is in for a hard time," said the old woman. She looked sadly down at the sleeping figure. Katara plunked herself down next to Suki and began to stroke her hair.

"What is it, Gran-Gran?" Katara's grandmother sighed and looked at her.

"Maybe we should wake her up, first." Katara nodded and tapped Suki on the shoulder. The other girl rolled over and murmured some nonsense, but didn't wake up. Katara lightly pulled some of the girl's hair; nothing. Finally, she leaned close to Suki's ear and whispered, "Yue's back, you'd better watch out for Sokka." Suki shot straight up and reached for her fans, not realizing they weren't attached to her tunic and drawstring pants.

"Wha- who? Katara? Kanna?" Katara helped her sit up and motioned Gran-Gran close.

"Gran-Gran wanted me to wake you up. She has news for you… you know, about that," Katara said, and pointed to Suki's midsection. The warrior blushed and nodded.

"So, Kanna," she said, fighting a hysterical urge to laugh. "What's the diagnosis?" Katara's grandmother smiled grimly and sat with the girls on the pile of furs.

"Well… you're going to need help," she began slowly. "You're going to need a bigger hut than we expected, and Sokka won't be happy about this… although if he loves you, he'll help you." Suki scratched an arm absentmindedly and nodded.

"Yes… I knew that," she said. "But how is the baby? And how far along…" She trailed off.

"Your children are developing normally," said the Water Tribe matron. "And I'd estimate you're a little over four months pregnant-"

"_What?_" bellowed Suki and Katara in unison. Kanna motioned to Katara to get one of her waterskins off the shelf.

"Katara, remember how you helped me deliver Ahn Li's baby earlier this week?" Katara nodded. "Remember how I had you feel for the child's heartbeat? To determine the right time to pull it out?" Another nod. "I want you to try that now, with Suki. Concentrate only on the smaller heartbeats. Suki, breathe." Katara worked the water from one skin into a moving, glowing circle. Suki took even breaths, in, out, in, out… _There_, thought Katara. Below Suki's heavy heartbeat she could detect another, smaller one… two smaller ones. Katara gasped, barely keeping the water from splashing in her surprise. Suki prepared herself for the worst as Katara's already wide eyes grew saucer-like.

"Suki," she whispered. "You're having _twins_." The Kyoshi warrior buried her head in Katara's shoulder for the second time that night and cried bitter tears. What exactly was she going to tell Sokka? Sokka, her love? Who'd just proposed? Sokka, who had pestered Aang half to death for the use of Appa to go back to Kyoshi Island and ask Suki's father properly for her hand? Katara gently stroked Suki's hair and looked questioningly at her grandmother.

"Gran-Gran, how are we going to hide this? I mean… Sokka will look bad, and Suki will look bad… and if Sokka doesn't, you know – agree –it may make matters even worse…" Suki took in a deep breath and wailed even louder at the mention of Sokka. Gran-Gran straightened and began putting on her parka.

"Young lady," she said, directing her comment to Suki. "You leave my grandson to me. You have children to worry about, when you're too young to be worrying about them. Don't pack another skin in a too-small hut," she warned, using an old Water Tribe proverb. To Katara, she added, "Take care of her. You know what to do. As to hiding it… there is no such thing as hiding a baby, and it's useless to try. But what we can do is find a way to make it respectable. People will always talk, but we can control the majority opinion more easily if we get to them early." She finished with her parka and opened the door to the hut. A blast of cold air made Katara's knees knock together. A voice outside made the hairs on both girls' arms rise; someone had been waiting. How much could they have heard? The walls of ice were thick, but the small hut had a window…

"Let me help you, Honorable grand- Gran-Gran," finished the Fire Lord humbly. The old woman looked back at Katara, eyes sparkling even after such a grave encounter.

"Granddaughter, if the airbender turns out to be less man than necessary…" she trailed off and glanced knowingly at Zuko. To him, she said "Thank you, young man. It's quite a hike for an old woman on her own." She winked to Katara as the door swung shut, leaving Katara and Suki alone with a lot to talk about and worry over.


	3. Necessity

Disclaimer: I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Ahn Li, Cho Li, Dao, Yun and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

The sun was rising over a glacier, shedding pale, watery light over the huts of the Water Tribe. Zuko was to return to the Fire Nation that day, although he had barely gotten any sleep the night prior, tossing restlessly instead. Sitting outside Katara's hut, he had discovered the Kyoshi warrior's secret. His information was riddled with holes; after all, he'd only caught what had floated out through the tiny window. But the old woman – Katara's grandmother – had a knack for people, he supposed, and somehow figured out that he knew. She had filled him in on the whole story; didn't want him spreading lies, she'd said, although he'd never understand who she expected him to tell. The sun had fully risen when Zuko decided to get up and begin dressing, rummaging for his coronet and onyx comb. The young Fire Lord was pulling on his boots when the door to his borrowed hut flew open. Katara stood there, shoulders tense; she looked right and left behind her and quickly shut the door.

"Gran-Gran says you know," said the girl, eyebrows scrunching together. "Don't you dare tell anyone." They had been in a similar situation before. _Give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your destiny any more… _Zuko looked at her, meeting her stern gaze. Behind the defiant anger, he saw the girl from the Crystal Catacombs; fear and worry for her friend strengthened her tense façade.

"I thought you trusted me," he said, fixing his boot. At that, the waterbender's gaze softened.

"I do trust you, Zuko." _I was the _first_ one to trust you._ "It's just…" she bit her lip. "For Suki's sake. Please don't say anything." Zuko nodded quickly and doused the sudden, mad desire to hug the waterbender. Instead, he stood and extended his arm. Katara clasped it with conviction, letting the weight on her shoulders roll away. "Thank you," she said. She opened the door to leave, and was almost completely outside the hut when she stuck her head back in the doorway.

"Oh, and you have a visitor. In the headman's hut." Seeing Zuko's puzzled look, Katara shrugged. "_I_ don't know who it is. Master Pakku told me to inform you." With that, she left. It was evidence of her newfound lightness that she walked all the way to the headman's hut playing with her waterbending, subtly forming a glowing koi pair as she went. Zuko hurried out of his hut after her. His mysterious guest awaited him, and he was hungry from not having slept the night before. _Although if they try to feed me raw eel again…_ Approaching the hut, he saw a red-swathed figure standing out amongst the blues and whites of the Water Tribe. He got closer, and suddenly felt horribly oppressed; it was the same sensation he'd felt upon arriving in "New Ozai" before his uncle had re-conquered it. A sensation of steel and gunpowder suffused his nostrils, and iron pressed his lungs in on themselves.

"Hey Zuzu," said the newcomer blandly. "I couldn't wait for you back home. So I came to spend the return trip with you." The raspy voice suddenly struck a chord and his brain put all the parts together.

"He- hello, Mai. That's… nice of you." Behind them, Toph Bei Fong and the Kyoshi warrior giggled.

"If that's not an awkward greeting, I dunno what is," whispered the tiny earthbender. Suki had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing hysterically at the Fire Lord and his "consort." A thick silence enveloped the crowd, until Katara and Kanna came out of the headman's hut.

"Breakfast," said Kanna, and the crowd shuffled in to take their places at the large center table. Katara, seated in between Aang and Sokka, couldn't help but scrutinize the knife-girl. She had such delicate features; physically, she could understand why Zuko would be attracted to her. But to be perfectly honest…

"She's so boring, isn't she," whispered Aang in her ear. She nearly jumped out of her skin because she hadn't seen him lean close. His hand located her knee, and it became uncomfortably warm.

"Well – I don't want to talk – I mean-" Aang's brow furrowed, and he withdrew his hand.

"Katara, you've been acting weird since I came back," he stated. Annoyance flashed across his childish features. "Why are you defending Mai all of a sudden? And what was with that blush the other day?" Finally aware of the slight altercation, the rest of the group seated at the table turned to stare at the Avatar and the waterbender. Katara flushed angrily and primly laid her hands, one on top of the other, in her lap. Mai had looked on the fight and, disinterested, turned back to Zuko. Said Fire Lord, however, recognized Katara's posture; it was one she had often held immediately before yelling at him for something or another, while they had traveled together.

"Aang," said Katara quietly, venomously. "Can we talk about this later." It was a command, but the airbender did not realize his danger yet.

"What's wrong with right here," he said angrily. "I don't have a problem discussing this right _now-_" Katara stood suddenly, toppling her chopsticks and nearly upsetting a glass of spiced blazeberry juice.

"I will _not_ have this discussion here," she hissed, eyes narrowing. Aang shrank back in his seat like a scolded dog, curling away from Katara's black aura.

"Ok, Katara," said Aang. "Hehe, I was just kidding, we can talk later. Hehe," his uneasy laughter broke the spell on their watchers, and they slowly returned to their morning meal. Katara was no longer hungry; ignoring protests from her brother and Aang, the waterbender stomped out of the hut. Her breath came up in puffs before her face; it was an extraordinarily cold day, even for the Southern Water tribe. She kicked at a small pile of snow in front of her, and from a few feet away something small squeaked in protest. She quickly discovered the source of the noise: Cho Li, a tiny Water Tribe toddler, stood shivering under some of the snow Katara had just kicked. Realizing what she'd done, the waterbender hurried to brush the cold, white powder off.

"Oh, Cho Li, I'm so sorry. I really am, I just wasn't paying attention and-" the tiny girl stretched her arms out, wordlessly asking to be carried. Katara obliged; the toddler settled on Katara's shoulder and contentedly sucked her thumb.

"Where is your mother," she asked, and the little girl pointed outward with her free hand, almost toppling out of Katara's grasp. "Let's go find her," she said, and started out. From behind a snow bank, the Avatar watched Katara pick up a tiny furry parka and begin to walk away with it. From behind a hut, about twenty feet to Aang's left, mismatched gold eyes also watched the girl walk away, for all the world like a model of maternal grace with a small child in her arms. Both men had come to try and convince Katara to come back for the meal, albeit separately; seeing that it would not happen now, they made their way back to the headman's hut. Upon meeting at the door, they shared a suspicious glance and returned to their places inside, where Hakoda had announcements to make.

"Members of the Tribe, Elders and honored guests," began the Water Tribe headman in a booming voice, as soon as everyone was seated. "We begin by raising our glasses to peace between the Fire Nation and the Southern Water tribe, recognized despite our humble size." The diners all raised their glasses, and with a great _hear, hear_ the entire table downed a shot of spiced blazeberry juice. "Now, for the announcements: first, I am very pleased to say that my son, Sokka of the Water Tribe," - here he motioned to Sokka, who stood – "has asked for, and been granted, the hand of Suki the Kyoshi warrior." Sokka beamed down at Suki proudly, and for a terrible moment she thought she might cry; but she forced a smile on her face and stood to thunderous applause and cheers of "Woo-eee, Fan Girl!" Hakoda smiled at the couple and waited for the noise to die down. "Also, my youngest daughter Katara," his gaze swept the diners, but she had not returned. "Having turned fifteen this winter, Katara is of suitable age to be married. Proposals come to _me_," he added pointedly. A certain firebender's cheeks burned quietly, noticed only by a slightly irritated Mai.

"What's your problem," she asked dryly, and Zuko had to call on his firebending to control the heat rising in his face. Finally, Hakoda raised his glass again.

"Today, the young Fire Lord leaves us to return to his proud nation. Anyone who wishes to see him off can come to the harbor around midday. We thank you, young Fire Lord," he directed himself to Zuko now. "Now is the time to extend peaceful negotiations throughout the nations, an it begins with the younger generation." Another round was downed, and Zuko bowed his head to Hakoda in thanks for the recognition.

Meanwhile, Katara was in the front yard of Ahn Li's hut. She whistled a tune, and a woman in her mid-twenties came out of the hut, carrying a baby. Eyes widening, she shifted the baby to her other side and exhaled slowly.

"Cho Li, you managed to get out again!" The woman shook her head, and gazed at the at the waterbender. "I'm sorry Katara. She's a curious one, there's no keeping her inside!" The little girl tugged at Katara's hair loops and giggled.

"It's fine, Ahn Li. You're among friends here." From behind the older woman came a boy around five years old. His eyes grew huge at the sight of Katara.

"Mommy, is that the girl who kissed Prince Zuko?" A warm flush suddenly spread over Katara's face, working its way throughout her entire body. Looking embarrassed, Ahn Li bent down to her son's eye level.

"Now, is that any way to talk about Katara? She was here when you were born, you know. You can't go saying bad things about her…" Katara put Cho Li on the ground, head spinning. She kneeled next to the boy.

"Dao, where did you hear that?" The boy looked flustered and ran behind his mother's parka. Ahn Li sighed.

"Yun was one of the soldiers in the invasion," she explained, referring to her husband. Shifting the baby again, she rubbed a permanent wrinkle between her eyebrows. "He brought back a scroll of some play that was popular in the Fire Nation. He reads that scroll to the children every night. They love the stories in it…" She hung her head almost apologetically. Katara straightened and forced a smile on her face.

"It's ok, Ahn Li. I saw the play, myself… highly inaccurate." The woman laughed, a gesture that took years off her face.

"I should hope so, Katara. I looked after you when you were younger… it's hard to imagine you saying anything like 'Oh, Jet, you're _so_ bad' in reality." With that, the woman herded her children inside and waved to Katara. "Say hello to Kanna for me," she yelled, and disappeared into her hut. Katara walked away more frustrated than she had come; somehow, it seemed, her life over the past year could not be tidily stacked up and put away. There was no convenient method to getting back to normal. Struggling to control herself, Katara had just beat down the urge to bend something into smithereens when Aang popped his head around the corner of a hut.

"Hey Katara. Can we talk?" The last thing the girl wanted to do was talk, but she sighed inwardly and nodded yes. She decided it would be worse to blow him off. Aang walked toward her, hesitantly burying the toe of his boots in the snow.

"You haven't kissed me, you know," he said. Katara winced inwardly; she had hoped it wouldn't come up. Wrapping her arms around her torso, Katara walked a few inches away from Aang, pondering what to say.

"What is it, Katara? I don't get it! You tell me you're confused. Then you kiss me. Then you don't want to even have a discussion with me!" The boy was frustrated by this time, grey eyes hurt and slanting sideways at her. Katara sighed and turned, her parka sprinkled in white flakes: it had begun to snow.

"I don't know, Aang. After the war – you know, emotions were running so high and – you said you wanted to be with me, it was the perfect ending-" Aang's thirteen-year-old patience was wearing thin.

"But _what_ Katara? _You_ kissed _me_ remember? I want us to be together!" He had been yelling, but grew quiet in his last syllables. "I want us to be together…" Katara stared up at the sky; if she had known what a drama it would engender, she never would have pioneered that kiss.

"Look, Aang… I don't know. I don't know, I don't know. I'm confused-"

"You were confused before," he interrupted. "What is there to be confused about? I love you, Katara. I couldn't make it into the Avatar state for the longest time because of y-" Katara boiled over.

"Maybe that's just it, ok?" She was yelling, and didn't care. "_You_ love me. _You_ couldn't get into the Avatar state because of me. What about _me_? What about what _I_ want?" She stomped her foot angrily, packing snow. "I have taken care of you, and Toph, and Sokka and _everyone_ since we began our journey! Maybe I just want to take care of _me_ now!" Aang's pained expression brought Katara to her senses. It had to be said, but perhaps her method hadn't been the best way to go about it. Katara had never deluded herself into believing that there was a happily ever after with the airbender. On a whim, because of his obvious feelings, she had given him a kiss after the Fire Lord's coronation. There had been, too, the fact that she felt lonely; Sokka had Suki, Zuko had Mai. So why not kiss Aang?

The reason was staring her in the face. He was the Avatar; she rarely saw him, as there was so much work to be done around the Southern Water tribe and his duties as the Avatar took him elsewhere. He was young and took illusions for fact. Katara sighed and made to hug Aang, but the young airbender stayed stiff and sad.

"So that's it, then," he said quietly. "You don't love me." Katara shook her head no, leaning down a bit to meet him at eye level.

"It's not that, Aang," she said. "I love you, like I love Sokka and Suki and Toph-"

"Even Zuko?" asked Aang, a strange gleam in his eye. Not noticing, Katara nodded.

"Yes, even Zuko." It was the wrong thing to say. Aang airbended a large bubble under himself and sped off, his face a murderous mask.

"Aang- wait!" called Katara, but it was too late. The waterbender stood alone in the falling snow, fur-lined hood catching the sparking flakes as they fluttered around her. What had been necessary was now done. From twenty yards away, Sokka, Suki and Toph all watched silently and digested the information. Katara was no longer "the Avatar's waterbender"; now she was Lady Katara of the Water Tribe, free and of marriageable age.


	4. Chase

_Disclaimer: _I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Ahn Li, Cho Li, Dao, Yun, Naomi and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

It was past midday when Katara saw Aang again, waiting for the Fire Lord's ship to set sail. The monk, however, kept to the village elders; Katara experienced the odd sensation of being a highly undesirable and contagious disease. Standing behind Sokka and Suki, she watched as a small crowd gathered to see Zuko off. A puff of steam came up from a steel monster's smokestack as the ship's captain indignantly blew its horn. Suddenly it was _good-bye, we appreciate your efforts_ or _may the nations live in peace_ or, in Toph's case, _later, Sparky!_ Katara was rather numb, and it wasn't from the freshly-fallen snow. Just before boarding, the Fire Lord came to her directly and pulled her a few feet away from the others. She struggled to keep calm as he wiped his hands on the front of his robe.

"Listen, Katara," he said in a low voice. _I've been sitting out here all night._ "If your tribe needs something – anything," he said quickly. "Send me a messenger hawk, ok? Money, people, it doesn't matter." Katara nodded dumbly, and before he could turn around to leave she tiptoed and gave him a hug.

"Have a good trip," she whispered, and bowed in respect to the Fire Lord. Blushing crimson, he bowed in return and hurried back to Mai's side, ready to board the ship. Mai had already gone belowdecks when the ship finally weighed anchor; it had begun to snow again, and Zuko observed from the top deck the tiny, proud people that were the Southern Water tribe. _I think my uncle told me snow was cleansing_, mused the firebender as the cold flakes floated down. The ship picked up speed and Zuko raised a hand in farewell. Back on land, the crowd dispersed, returning to the daily activities interrupted by Zuko's visit of the state. Katara was left standing there, a desolate feeling washing over her as waves drew the Fire Nation ship away from the Tribe's beloved shore. A warm hand on her shoulder and another grip on her arm broke through the haze.

"Oh, Katara. He'll be back, don't worry." Kanna smiled up at her granddaughter; Hakoda coughed.

"It's time to get back to work," he stated gruffly, stalking away; Katara and her grandmother were left alone.

"What happened to dad?" asked Katara, trying to force lightness into her tone. Kanna began to walk, motioning the young waterbender after her. She pulled a thick coat higher over her shoulders against the bitter cold.

"He's worried about you, Katara. Yesterday morning, your young firebender friend came around, discussing our customs with Pakku. Especially," she stopped and looked at Katara. "Especially our custom of arranged marriages, and how the proposals are directed to the father of the young woman in question." She turned around and resumed walking. "Now, today, the whole Water Tribe sees you and young Aang having a fight, and nobody could mistake your look for anything but longing when you watched the Fire Lord board his ship." Katara sputtered and blushed angrily, stopping dead in her tracks. Kanna continued.

"I don't know what it is," she said, ignoring Katara's outraged noises. "I did not travel with you. I can only tell you what an outsider sees. And what your family sees…" she trailed off.

"But there's no- I- Zuko- we're just _friends_," she finished lamely. "I mean, I trust him… and he's always a good sparring partner, but that's-" Gran-Gran waved her excuses away.

"Katara, right now you have more important things to worry about," said the old woman. She peered at her granddaughter. "Like your friend, and your brother. Even the Avatar." They had reached the main hut again, and Kanna stopped to touch wrinkled fingers to her granddaughter's hair. "But you should take some time to think about what _you_ want. You're home now." With that, she disappeared into the hut, and Katara was once again abandoned to her feelings.

-

_Meanwhile, on the ship._

-

"Zuko, come down here. I want some more pillows for my bed, and the maid won't listen to me." Mai's scratching tone brought the Fire Lord down from the upper deck. He furrowed his brow, looking around her cabin for the maid. Turning, he saw that Mai was propped up on a mountain of silk pillows, delicately licking chocolate off her fingers as she went for a second bonbon.

"Don't you already have enough pillows?" he asked, oddly irked at her extravagance.

"Don't you want to order someone around for me?" she countered mildly, before popping the bonbon in her mouth. Zuko didn't, really, but he couldn't very well start a long journey on ill terms with his consort. Sticking his head out of the cabin door, he looked up and down the hallway until he saw a red uniform.

"You, there!" he yelled, but the figure did not seem to hear him. He exited the room and strode toward her.

"I said, you the-" The girl looked up at him and grinned like a mischievous child.

"Hey again, Sparky!"

-

_Back in the Southern Water Tribe._

-

"SUKI!" bellowed Katara. "It's almost sundown, and dad says the blizzard's coming in tonight!" The Kyoshi warrior hurried to catch up to her friend. Both girls held baskets of pelts; the entire village had been on hyperspeed since the departure of Fire Lord Zuko. A blizzard was expected to begin late in the evening, and everything outside had to be brought in. Families packed large baskets and bulwarked their huts with solid ice. The main hut and the refugee hut were in full swing, admitting the families whose huts were incapable of withstanding the brutal arctic winds.

Katara and Suki left their baskets of pelts with the older women of the Water Tribe and entered the refugee hut. There, the less fortunate Water Tribe members mingled with prisoners of war and others imported from the fire nation. Here and there a child would tangle with someone's legs; a bowl of soup would spill, or a pelt would disappear. They were hard people, but inside herself Katara was convinced they were basically good and only needed a little guidance. As the waterbender and the warrior passed, they were met with either jeers or calls of thanks. Katara had been a major force in the healing effort, of course, and the Ember Island Players had made both girls famous – or infamous.

The refugee hut had a bunkroom in the back for its caretakers; until the blizzard was over, the girls were assigned two bunks there and told to help out. There was always work to be done; food needed preparing, and fires were not easy to start between glaciers. More than once that day Katara was struck with a desperate longing for ready-made fire and easy-to-prepare rice and spices. She longed for people that ate her food without complaint, even though in the back of her mind she realized it may have been because nobody ever knew if it was their last day to live. By the time the entire Water Tribe had ended their blizzard preparations, Katara was so bone-tired she even longed for Appa's warm and smelly fur. A short meeting was held in the bunkroom after the refugees had been settled and spare pelts and coats distributed. Among those in attendance were Katara, Suki, Ahn Li and her mother, Naomi. Naomi was a domineering woman, tall and slight and very capable. She was in charge of the refugee hut and held her granddaughter as she spoke.

"The refugees have been settled, friends. The blizzard is expected to last at least three days, but that is merely a hopeful estimate." She shifted Cho Li and settled her on the opposite shoulder. "Should there be any problems with the refugees – verbal disputes, arguments, fights of any sort – they are to be reported to either myself or my daughter, Ahn Li." Katara squirmed uncomfortably where she stood; a bleak thought had suddenly crossed her mind, a question she didn't think she wanted to know the answer to. Naomi continued her speech, describing basic healing procedures for the refugees and explaining the distribution of the next morning's meal. When she finally finished, everyone bowed and crawled into their bunks, hunkering down for what was bound to be a crushingly cold night. Katara remained still, waiting for Naomi to finish her conversation with a burly Tribe member Katara recognized from one of Sokka's hunts earlier in the day. When the man walked away, she approached the woman carefully, ears humming, as she planned what she was going to say. The older woman was well-known for her dislike of the Fire Nation and its people, but…

"Honorable Naomi," she began, and lowered her head. "I was wondering if a messenger hawk had been sent out to the captain of Zuk- that is, the Fire Lord's ship." The woman's expression had not changed. Perhaps she did not realize the danger? "A warning, about the blizzard," clarified Katara, silently begging the woman to say yes. Naomi's blue eyes crackled and Katara almost regretted her question, because she could already see the answer.

"Katara, there were many preparations necessary to defend us against this blizzard." _No. No, no. This can't be right._ "If a message has been sent, I have not heard of it." Katara shot from the room, not caring what the old woman thought of her manners. _This boy saved my life._ She pumped her legs, faster and faster; unknown to her, Suki followed hot on the trail. She had seen Katara's stricken face at the words of the severe Water Tribe woman, had seen her bolt from the bunkroom like a fire was burning under her skin. So Suki followed her, curious and worried.

It was not long before Katara reached the large stable that had been temporarily constructed for Aang's Appa; it also served as a keep for the messenger hawks brought as gifts from the Fire Nation. Throwing the door open, Katara realized in horror that every single last bird was gone. Gone, but it was no mystery: as soon as light filled the stable, a leopard-lion slunk out of a small hole in the back of the stable, leaving a trail of feathers behind her. Katara looked back outside the doors, debating whether or not to run to the main hut and ask Aang and Sokka for help. The clouds above her darkened and scuttled closer to each other, sinking lower and lower. Katara bit her lip. _I'm sorry, Aang. Even after I broke your heart…_

Without water skins or company, Katara scrambled up Appa's fur as the giant beast lowed mournfully.

"It's all right, Appa," she said. "I know you don't want to fly in this weather. Neither do I." Katara reached for a spare blanket that had been left to stiffen on Appa's saddle, and shook it out. "We just have to warn them – it's only fair-" A surprised cry caught Katara's ear, and she leaned out over the saddle to see Suki slipping off Appa's side. Katara reached down to help her in, and fixed her with a stare.

"Did you think you could run off by yourself?" replied Suki to the venomous look. Katara shook her head no and moved up to sit on Appa's head with the reins in her hand. The lack of time made it impossible to argue; the three were up in the air before Katara even finished saying, "Yip yip." Suki situated herself near the front of the saddle.

"Where are we going?" she asked, the wind almost stealing the words from her lips. Katara's face contorted angrily and she pointed out, into the ocean.

"Nobody warned Zuko," she said tightly, concentrating on steering Appa. _Speed over style_, she thought, and kept to as the winds grew sharper and colder. "Nobody warned them that a blizzard was expected tonight. That ship," she turned to Suki and gestured violently, "is a floating _death trap._" The Kyoshi warrior's eyes widened as she clutched the side of Appa's saddle. There was not much she could say, except…

"Katara, I know it's unfair – I understand where you're coming from, but…" she relaxed back into the saddle, contemplating the darkening sky. "Why the reaction?" The waterbender gripped the leather reigns tightly with one hand and massaged her temple with the other as a series of images flashed before her eyes. A whistling wind tore into the girls as they flew faster, racing time.

_That's something we have in common._

_I'm _not_ his girlfriend!_

_I just _told_ you I was confused!_

_I'm not ready to forgive him, but…_

_I'm ready to forgive you._

The sky rumbled ominously as the two young women flew ever higher.


	5. Atonement

_Disclaimer: _I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Xue Bao, the medic, Dao, Yun, Naomi and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

"Wha- what are you _doing_ here?" A bewildered Zuko and a thoroughly amused Toph sat crunched together in the ship's latrine, facing each other head-on. Toph grinned widely and poked two stubby fingers into his chest.

"I'm entertaining myself, that's what," she said gleefully. "I hate ships, but here's my perfect opportunity to corner you and ask a few personal questions… without knife-girl or Twinkletoes or anyone to distract you." Looking very pleased with herself, Toph watched as Zuko sat back, fuming, and made to run a hand through his hair. He realized too late that he had undone his topknot, and the golden coronet he usually wore fell to the floor, clanking loudly. Toph waited for him to pick it up before beginning her game of twenty questions.

"Why'd you guys decide to shove off so quick, hm? And what's with the whispering between you and Sugar Queen?" Toph was never one to beat around the bush. Zuko reddened and played his fingers around the small coronet nervously. Sighing, he rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and shook his head.

"We left quickly because it was a visit of the state," he declared suddenly. Quieting, he added: "It wasn't meant to be a long journey. I had politics to discuss with Master Pakku, and had hoped to make an alliance with _toushi_ Hakoda." Toph listened politely, inwardly picturing a situation in which she could bang Zuko's head with a heavy metal pipe to make him tell the truth. Tracing a foot on the floor, she turned her blind eyes toward him. Zuko trailed off; he had been saying something about Tribal political etiquette.

"You know, I can tell when you're lying," said the tiny female. Zuko exhaled. "Try again. Why did you guys leave so soon?" The Fire Lord scratched his head and had just opened his mouth to say something when the ship gave an agonizing wrench and jolted dangerously, throwing both Zuko and Toph into the steel walls of the latrine. The firebender glanced down at the tiny girl apologetically before throwing open the door and running to the top deck. On his way, he passed the ship's captain, also running.

"Captain Shou," called the Fire Lord, never slowing down. "What seems to be the problem?" Both men came out onto the upper deck and Zuko gaped, awestruck, at the scene unfolding before him. An enormous flying bison had landed on the top deck, half-in and half-out of the water, icicles in its fur crackling like demonic harbingers of death. The beast's saddle was lopsided and soaked; Zuko's men raised their pikes and surrounded it, waiting for a movement. From deep within the saddle came an anguished cry, and for the first time Zuko noticed bits of blue amongst the icicles in the beast's fur.

"Lower your arms. Help them!" yelled Zuko. Two men scrambled up Appa's side, fighting the slipperiness of the icicles to help whoever was trapped in the tilting saddle. The beast groaned and collapsed, and the steel ship swayed perilously. One man slid down from the saddle, carrying a short-haired girl in a fur-lined parka. The girl was sobbing quietly, occasionally putting a frostbitten hand to her abdomen and biting her blue lips hard enough to draw blood. She looked to be in agonizing pain.

"Take her to the infirmary," said Zuko. "Is there anyone else in there?" Sure enough, a burly Fire Nation guard brought down another parka-wrapped person, this one fighting violently to be released.

"Get your hands off me- I have a message for the Fire Lord. It's important!" The girl must have been trying to yell, but her words barely floated out of her frozen voice box. Stumbling out of the big man's grasp, she looked blearily around until she met Zuko's confused gaze. _Katara…? _She walked toward him, blue eyes burning with determination.

"Zuko. There's a blizzard on the way. W-we flew through part of it… the outer swirls." Her teeth chattered. "The heavy snows are going to m-meet you on your way out… tell your captain to t-turn around." A blue hand darted out clutch his arm. "We're fortified, and we h-have food and shelter. The blizzard's d-due to last at least three days-" the girl swayed dangerously.

"Was- worried-" she whispered softly, and promptly began to fall, tired eyes rolling back into her head. Zuko's reflexes took hold and he caught her, lifting the girl up to carry her into the bowels of the ship.

"Captain Shou," he commanded, and the man snapped up and saluted.

"Yes, honorable one-" _There's no time for this, _thought Zuko_-_

"You heard her. There is a blizzard on the horizon. Turn back with all due haste," said Zuko, narrowing his eyes at the man. Shou blinked nervously at the mismatched glare and then straightened. "It shall be testament to your skill if you can avoid this storm and protect the Fire Lord." The man hurried away, shouting orders. Zuko held his charge a little closer – _no sense in dropping her on the way to the infirmary_, he told himself – and started down to the lower decks. He passed Mai's room, where he heard the noblewoman blithely asking a crewmember if the ride was normally this bumpy. And then threatening him with the Fire Lord's wrath… Zuko shook his head impatiently and continued down the hall to the infirmary, meeting Toph at the door.

"I heard some commotion," said the earthbender. She stretched a hand out and struck Katara's lacquered blue hair beads. "Is that _Sugar Queen_?" Zuko nodded, and then remember that she couldn't see him.

"Yeah," he said, blowing hair out of his eyes. "The Kyoshi girl- Suki- was brought in first." Toph's sightless eyes grew wide and she moved out of the firebender's way. As soon as Zuko stepped into the infirmary he cursed himself mentally for forgetting that it was made for the occasional seasick crewmember: that is, it contained exactly one cot and one chair. Hoisting Katara a little higher, he realized the girls could not both stay there. _But they both need medical attention... what can I d- oh!_ He stepped back out and hurried to his cabin clumsily, trying to think and not drop Katara at the same time. Toph followed; she arched an eyebrow as Zuko opened the door to his cabin, but said nothing. The firebender lay Katara gently down on the large double bed and went back to the infirmary for Suki, placing her beside Katara. Toph plunked herself into a silk armchair and dug her toes into the luxurious carpet.

"Man, you guys really do get all the perks," she said to Zuko, sighing enviously. But Zuko was already gone, running down the hall in search of a medic. Suki stirred and suddenly shrieked in pain and surprise. Toph stood and went over, rubbing her hands around the warrior's arms and legs to try and get the blood flowing again. Zuko came back with the medic, a quiet old man whose eyes told him everything he needed to know. He went over to Suki, eyes darting back and forth, taking in the blue skin, the broken lip… the frozen parka. He motioned Zuko to take off Katara's sodden, heavy parka as he himself struggled with Suki's. Finally, he spoke.

"Does Lady Mai have a chaperon?" he inquired, touching two fingers to the inside of Suki's wrist as he spoke. Zuko nodded.

"Her name is Xue Bao," he said. "Should I send for her?" The medic nodded and then moved on to Katara, checking her pulse while Zuko came back with the chaperon.

Xue Bao was a sprightly older woman with deep amber eyes and the wisdom of a thousand generations. She was surprised when the Fire Lord asked for assistance from her, more so when she was led into his chambers to find two young women, cold and wet, shivering unconsciously on his bed. The medic pulled her aside and whispered into her ear; she nodded in understanding.

"Honorable one," said the medic, after his conference with Xue Bao ended. Zuko scrubbed his hands on his robe and paced, nodding to signify his attention. "This young lady needs serious medical attention." He pointed to Katara, and Zuko's heart almost stopped. "It is difficult to say whether or not she will survive the night. Look here," he said, and walked over to Katara's side. His wrinkled fingertips brushed tiny, crisscrossing, still-bleeding cuts all along her arms, extending upwards to her shoulders and neck. Her skin was almost entirely blue. "It appears," said the medic, "that she huddled over the other young lady," – now he walked over to Suki – "to protect her from hail or snow that was not fully formed." _In other words, chunks of ice,_ thought Zuko distractedly. Directing himself to Xue Bao, the medic said, "Honorable Xue Bao, you have the ability to take over here where I cannot." He walked toward the cabin door. "The girls must be separated and the blood flow to their limbs re-started." Xue Bao nodded. The medic was halfway down the hall before he hurried back for one last bit of advice.

"She cannot be moved at all," he said, tilting his chin toward Katara, and exited muttering something about a powdered pepper poultice he would have to prepare for both girls. Xue Bao turned to Zuko.

"Honorable one, if you will help me move the young woman to one of the empty cabins, I can make her comfortable and then…" She trailed off, thinking. "Lady Mai and I can take shifts watching them; I cannot be in two places at once, and it would be improper for a man to try and rub down-"

"I'll do it," said Zuko. _The lightning came too fast, and it was angled wrong. You had to aim for _me_! Why did you aim for her? She came to protect _me_…_ "I'll take care of her," he said abruptly. Zuko lifted Suki from the bed and walked down the hall to the first empty cabin, Xue Bao fluttering about him the entire time tittering about the impropriety of the situation, and what would Lady Mai think-

"Take good care of her," said the Fire Lord as he placed Suki on the red comforter. "I will be in my cabin, with Katara." Xue Bao's eyes widened. That wreck on his majesty's bed was the Avatar's waterbender? That made the situation interesting, considering the rumors floating around since his coronation. Could it be true? Was there really something-?

"I'll send a maid," said the firebender, breaking through the old woman's thoughts. With that, he walked back to his cabin, hands balled into fists. Toph, forgotten until then, was hiding behind the door outside of Zuko's cabin. He walked in, furious aura making the bowels of the ship many times hotter than they had been minutes before. Leaning over his bed, he scooted Katara several feet in and began to remove her wet overthings. Toph sidled up next to him.

"Hey- are you sure you should be doing that? You know, if _my_ girlfriend was a knife-wielding maniac, I wouldn't necessarily think-"

"She saved me," interrupted Zuko. Katara was down to her wraps and Zuko took her right leg between his hands and began to massage gently, trying to get precious blood flowing again. Toph waited; she figured that he would continue talking. Staring into a wall hanging, Zuko started again.

"She saved me… from my sister," he said, and laughed bitterly. "It was foolish of me to think my sister would fight a clean fight. Katara wasn't even challenged – she was there to help me, and-" his voice cracked. "Azula shot lightning at her." Toph gathered that it must have happened during the final battles of the war, when she had been hanging for dear life from Sokka and an airship. Zuko sighed, pressing his eyes shut.

"I jumped in front of her, and I guess- I guess Azula knew I would." Toph couldn't imagine the scene, but she knew for a fact that Zuko's sister was purely insane. And paranoid. She wouldn't put it past Azula to do worse than attack an innocent bystander... Zuko's voice roughened.

"I couldn't contain it all. The lightning. It went through me. Katara defeated Azula, but she saved me. She healed my scar… just like she had offered to in the crystal catacombs." Suddenly Toph wondered just how accurate her comment had been when the group had been in that theatre on Ember Island. _That play shows the truth._ It seemed as though reality wasn't such a far cry from the players' art after all. Zuko touched his hand to the scar stretching over the left side of his face.

"I have to save her," he whispered. Did the Fire Lord really sound that broken? _Toph, you've got to clean out your ears._ "I have to save her, because she saved me." _It's your sister! She hates me! And I care about what she thinks! _A thick silence fell over the room, and Zuko looked at Katara with such tenderness it would have made a regular couple look supremely inadequate. From the doorway, a shadow scuttled away, settling on a chair only after her old heart had stopped pounding. Xue Bao had only caught the Fire Lord's last whisper and his look- a look Xue Bao had never seen before on his face. A look she only associated with young couples on their wedding day. _So the Fire Lord feels,_ she mused.

On the upper deck of the ship, Appa lowed mournfully. The winds had picked up.


	6. Survival

_Disclaimer: _I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Ahn Li, Cho Li, Dao, Yun and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

"Come on, Aang… Katara's being bossy… again…" Sokka let rip an almighty snore, causing the airbender in question and many others sleeping in the headman's hut to shift uncomfortably. Pulling a pelt closer, the Water Tribe warrior emitted a high-flying stream of drool as he turned over to find a more comfortable position. Startled by a suddenly wet ear, Aang shot up and looked suspiciously around him, reaching for a glider that wasn't there. Someone was talking at the far end of the hut; Aang touched a hand to his wet ear and made a face.

"Momo, you-" But Momo was nowhere to be found. Aang frowned. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen the furry little guy since just before he disembarked at the South Pole. He had been feeding him grapes when the captain announced that the gangplank was about to be lowered. _I hate Fire Nation ships. I wonder where Momo went…_ Aang's thoughts were wildly disconnected, and he had to sit down for a moment to think. There had been no time for anything sine the storm warning had arrived, shortly after Zuko's ship had weighed anchor. Even the Avatar had to pitch in. Excusing himself from the hunt, Aang instead opted to aid the few North-Pole-imported waterbenders of the Tribe in raising and strengthening bulwarks against the expected barrage of driving snow, wind and hail. He hadn't even seen Katara since that morning at the harbor. _What about _me_? What about what _I _want?_ Recalling her angry words made Aang wince. He figured that during the war, well, maybe that had been pushing it a little. But what was wrong with afterward? Why couldn't they be together? _Maybe I just want to take care of _me_ now!_ But he loved her… _I love you, like I love Sokka and Suki and Toph – yes, even Zuko._ Blinded by the naivety of youth, Aang had failed to realize that perhaps Katara didn't want that "happily ever after" in the sky. _Maybe,_ thought Aang, looking around him, _maybe she wants this._ His gaze passed over the dozens of Tribe members snoring on pelts on the floor, taking in blue parkas, fur-lined collars, families. _Maybe she wants something a little more solid. A home._ These thoughts were too deep to be plaguing him so soon after waking up; the airbender stood to stretch and was suddenly accosted by Hakoda of the Water Tribe.

"Avatar Aang," said the man, and bowed. Aang bowed in return, wondering what the headman was doing awake. "When you put your beast in the stable, did you tie him down?" Hakoda's voice was clipped and nervous. Aang shook his head no, worry gripping him like ivy consuming an abandoned building.

"No, I didn't. Appa never goes off. Why?" The headman looked as though the floor had suddenly dropped out from under his feet.

"Because," he began chokingly. "I have just received an urgent message from the refugee hut." He gestured to the far end of their hut and Aang noticed a shivering Tribe man covered in hard snow and ice chips; he must have been the one talking before. Hakoda looked up at the solid block of ice that served as a window for the headman's hut. For the first time now, Aang noticed how the wind howled maliciously around the hut's bulwarks and domed roof, and heard rough snow beating down on its packed-snow cousin.

"What was the message, _toushi_ Hakoda?" The man inhaled deeply and expelled the breath in tiny puffs, visible before their noses.

"My daughter and the Kyoshi warrior have disappeared," he said eventually, avoiding the young boy's gaze. His breathing became slightly labored. "Along with your bison." Aang was quiet for a moment, and then-

"_WHAT_ happened to Suki?" Sokka had woken up. Hakoda put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"We don't know, son. Naomi sent a messenger to us, to tell me that Katara had run out on her during a conversation – and that your Kyoshi friend followed close behind." Sokka's arms went slack as he tried to wrap his mind around the situation.

"They went flying? Through the blizzard?" asked the airbender, trying not to stumble over his words. _They took Appa? _Aang listened to the screaming wind and felt hundreds of slight vibrations as the first true winds of the blizzard tore into the external walls of the hut. Hakoda had aged about a hundred years over the course of a few minutes, and Aang wasn't feeling completely savvy himself. Sokka straightened, seemingly making up his mind about something, and reached for a leather thong to tie up his hair.

"Well, I'm going after them," said the warrior. "Aang, are you with me?" The airbender began to nod, but Hakoda intervened.

"Sokka. Be reasonable. The storm is almost directly over the Pole, and you have no transportation." Sokka deflated quickly. _You just said it was ok not to think it through!_ Aang scratched his head.

"But I'm the Avatar," he said finally. "I can waterbend the snow away, and-"

"Yeah dad! Aang's the Avatar! Let's go!" said Sokka determinedly. Hakoda looked at his son sadly, and then directed himself to Aang.

"It is precisely because you _are_ the Avatar that I can't let you go after them," he said quietly. "Look around, Avatar Aang. Think about the refugee hut." Hakoda's beads jingled, and his voice was one of wisdom gained through treacherous years of war. "You have brought these people peace, a new world. The end of a war many assumed would rage on long after their lifetime." The headman sighed. Aang did look around again, taking in all that had occurred. He suddenly wished he was back with his little group, traveling; he did not like this great responsibility for other people, he just wanted to be a kid! He wanted to splash with Katara in the river and train with Toph! He even preferred the anxiety he used to suffer thinking about his fight with the Fire Lord to life after the real thing. Aang's blood ran cold and he mentally slapped himself. _Maybe I'm being childish after all,_ he realized slowly. _Maybe Katara wants someone to take care of her. Not someone that needs taking care of…_ His mind suddenly presented him with an image that disturbed him greatly.

_The temple walls shook. Suddenly, bits of stone were racing across the floor as Fire Nation soldiers appeared on war balloons. The ceiling was cracking apart; every person under it scrambled for safety. A shower of rocks and tiles began to fall right above Katara's head; before Aang could even react, a pale, muscular body was shielding the waterbender from the deadly debris. He stood over her, protecting her; both were breathing heavily from adrenaline and exertion._

_"What are you _doing_?!" Katara had screamed. _

_"Saving you from falling rocks," said Prince Zuko. _Saving you.

Aang looked uncomfortably between Sokka and Hakoda, defeated. For the moment, at least, there was nothing he could do.

-

_Fire Lord Zuko's ship._

-

Massive waves broke over the top deck's railings as the wind bore mercilessly into the steel walls of the imperial ship. Sailors slid violently back and forth across the salt-encrusted walkways in a futile effort to keep the craft from rocking. Lady Mai was wound under many scarlet silk covers, waiting out the storm. The cold was seeping through even those, and the sixteen-year-old girl wondered what it would be like to have the Fire Lord himself under those covers. _Someday_, she thought, smiling smugly into a pillow. Briefly she wondered if she should call for Zuko to demand a brazier for her cabin. Even the thought required too much effort, so she merely packed herself between two mountains of pillows and tucked her long, ebony hair into her robe. She snapped loudly and a maid extinguished her lamps._ It's good to be queen,_ she thought before falling asleep.

Down the hall, a Kyoshi warrior was regaining consciousness as an older woman hovered over her.

"Oh, thank Agni!" cried Xue Bao as the young woman stirred and rasped for water. Suki could barely rub her eyes to see where she was; her limbs felt stiff and sore, and her abdomen was making it difficult not to scream in pain. Xue Bao bustled about, fetching Suki water and chattering about her fast recovery.

"We weren't even sure if you'd wake up, although the medic said you would," she was saying as she helped Suki up. "Now your friend down the hall, he doesn't even know if she's going to make it through the night." Suki's eyes darted to the old woman; she didn't seem to be kidding. The woman muttered something about having to get a poultice from the medic, and wandered off. As soon as the door had clanged shut, Toph slipped out from behind shadow cover. Suki opened her mouth to say something, but Toph beat her to it.

"That was quite an entrance you and Sugar Queen made," said the tiny girl. Suki shook her head.

"I don't even know what happened," she whispered, biting her lip. "We were flying, and Katara was so determined to beat the storm… then this terrible wind began and one of the babies kicked and-" Suki clamped her hand down over her mouth, looking terrified. Toph did not seem shocked, or even surprised.

"It's ok, fan-girl," said the earthbender patting the Kyoshi's tiny bulge. "I've been following those two little guys since Sokka brought you back from that prison." Suki was at a loss for words.

"But you- how did-"

"Their _heartbeats_," explained Toph matter-of-factly. "You don't normally leave the group with one and come back with three." Suki sank back down into her bed and put a shaking hand on her belly. Two flutters came back in response. Suki almost grinned, but just then remembered what Xue Bao had said about Katara.

"What was that about Katara not being able to make it through tonight?" Suki asked Toph. The earthbender shrugged.

"This medic guy looked at both of you," said Toph. "While you were on Sparky's bed," she added, and wiggled her eyebrows. _Fantastic,_ thought Suki. _First I'm bringing Sokka kids that aren't his, and now I'm unconscious on the Fire Lord's bed. This is just_ great _for my reputation._ Toph continued.

"The medic said you could be saved more easily, and left Xue Bao – the old woman, knife-girl's chaperon – with instructions. He was iffy about Katara." Toph shrugged.

"But wait," said Suki. "If Xue Bao is taking care of me, who's taking care of Katara?"

-

_The Fire Lord's cabin._

-

Katara screwed up her face and sneezed, moving stiffly on the bed. Opening her eyes slowly, she took in warmly glowing lamps and a red-and-gold silk comforter pulled up to her waist. She was only in her wraps, she realized, and made to pull the comforter up higher. A hot pressure on her upper arm stopped her. Peeking over the embroidered edge of the comforter she realized that the Fire Lord had fallen asleep with his arms clasped around hers. She saw the marks of frostbite running up and down her own arms, and realized that he had been trying to re-initiate the flow of blood to her limbs; she also noticed that despite the lamps, the room's temperature was dropping steadily. She nudged Zuko with the arm he held, and he blinked slowly, disoriented, as he woke.

"Wha- Katara?" he said, voice full of sleep. The waterbender nodded, pulling on the comforter for all it was worth. Her hair had become a tangled mess, and was spread all over her pillow. Zuko's shoulders shook.

"Thank Agni," he said. His mismatched eyes pressed closed, as though he were fighting back something painful. "I never would have forgiven myself, not after what you did- in the cave, on the dock… now, flying through a storm to warn me…" His voice hitched and Katara laughed softly.

"I wasn't expecting to meet the storm head-on," she whispered. Her throat was paper-dry. As the firebender reached over to hand Katara a clay ladleful of water, she heard him murmur:

"All the same."

From outside the hall came a desperate cry.

"ABANDON SHIP! She's taking on too much water!" Zuko rose quickly; Katara attempted to do the same, but came crashing back down with a wince of pain. Zuko turned to look at her just as his cabin door crashed open. It was the captain.

"Sir! If that beast is not removed from the upper deck, this ship will sink! It's tilting down, bow-first!" Zuko looked between Katara and the man; the waterbender felt his indecision and stood, gritting her teeth.

"You go," she said. "As soon as I'm dressed, I'll help you on the upper deck." He looked at her with a face that asked, _Can you manage it?_ Katara began to yank on clothes.

"It'll be like old times," she said gamely. "Move it." With that command, the Fire Lord ran out to his men, shouting orders and attempting to evaporate water from the decks of the ship. He saw Katara run after him, calling away typhoon-sized waves of water. _She's back,_ he mused.

Just then, the ship screeched with the sound of renting metal and was ripped in two.


	7. Cataclysm

_Disclaimer: _I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Xue Bao, the medic, Dao, Yun, Naomi and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

_Lanterns flickered on and off as an eerie silence descended upon the steel monster that was the Fire Lord's ship. Bitterly cold waves sliced through its slowly sinking hull; belowdecks, the crewmen faithful to their Fire Lord gathered the women and servants into a tight huddle by the navigation room. The ship heaved clumsily back and forth; already, deadly swirls of hyperborean water were turning ankles blue and crystallizing over boots. The ship's hull cracked open like an egg…_

"Captain Shou! Captain Shou! I need you to-" Zuko roared orders, stopping short when he realized the ship's captain was nowhere to be found. A freckle-faced sailor ran up to the Fire Lord, soaked and shivering.

"C-captain Shou abandoned s-ship, sir!" Zuko gritted his teeth.

"Coward," he muttered. The sailor stood by him, rubbing his arms and fighting to keep his eyes open against the cutting rain. A sudden blast of wind nearly knocked both off their feet. Zuko turned to the man, bracing himself in case of another treacherous sway.

"Go down with the other sailors and the servants. There is nothing more you can do here." The bow of the craft was sinking quickly with Appa on board; out of the corner of his eye, Zuko could see Katara desperately trying to keep the ship from taking in any more water. Her face twisted with the effort, and every second saw her herculean struggle against the wounds sustained on her way to warn him. The millions of cuts multiplied, reopening and sending rivulets of blood down her arms and legs, staining through her clothing. The freckle-faced sailor still stood on the upper deck; his face had acquired a stubborn set that would have worried the Fire Lord in any other situation.

"N-no, your majesty. I c-can't leave you t-to fight the b-blizzard alone." Although the man was older than him, Zuko couldn't help but feel a combination of frustration and embarrassed flattery. Before he could say anything, however, the ship abruptly righted itself, throwing a very wet young woman into his chest, her matted hair plastering itself over his nose and mouth. Blushing madly, the sailor helped Katara up as Suki, who had come up from belowdecks to find Katara, stared on. The Fire Lord was up, but the moment Katara was released she collapsed in a tired heap on the deck; it had begun to sleet, and the tired and injured girl couldn't get her footing. The Fire Lord himself bent to help her up, and Suki started at the sight of her small, tan hands in his bony pale ones. _Funny, I never thought about it… but maybe… now is definitely _not_ the time_, she thought to herself. The waves crashed louder.

"Zuko," shouted Suki above the din. "Katara!" The two stopped their struggling to look at her. "Toph says she can hold the ship together for a bit, but it's moments at best!" The cutting wind nearly tore the words from her throat. The four on the upper deck turned to look at Appa; the beast himself lowed mournfully, in pain as ice and cold penetrated his dense fur. Zuko turned to catch Katara's eye.

"Katara, can that thing swim?" he asked. His voice was getting hoarse from the effort. From her position, supported on one of his shoulders and a head shorter than him, she stared.

"Yes, but he's tired." Zuko closed his eyes briefly.

"Help me," he said tersely to the sailor, who had stayed nearby to watch the drama unfold. In one fluid move, he hoisted the waterbender up in his arms and handed her gently to the sailor. Meeting her blue eyes with his gold ones, he said: "Can you bend from there?" She nodded, not protesting simply because she could not afford the time or energy. Zuko turned to Suki.

"Go belowdecks. Send all of my men up here, and ask Toph how long she can keep this death trap together." The Kyoshi nodded and disappeared.

"What's your plan?" asked Katara from the sailor's arms. He turned to explain but found he couldn't, with her in the position she was in. The sailor's freckled arms held her solidly, but gently enough to avoid scraping her already-bleeding limbs. Seeing red, he turned back around.

"I want to push Appa into the water," he said swiftly.

"_What?_" asked the Water Tribe girl incredulously. Zuko met her stubborn gaze.

"It's not what you think. You said he can swim, right?" The waterbender nodded. "Well, I want to push him in the water, but keep him close to the ship. Then, I was hoping you could bend water away from the ship and Appa's head-"

"In an air bubble," she finished, nodding. Understanding had made its way slowly into her expression as she listened.

"Yes," said Zuko. "And… I need Appa to push us to shore." Katara looked doubtful. _He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him._

"Only Aang can-"

"I know," interjected Zuko. Looking at him closely, Katara understood that this was quite possibly their only chance. She turned to the sailor.

"Let me down," she told him. The man looked questioningly at Zuko, whose expression was a cross between incredulity and admiration.

"Let her down," he said, and at that moment the stomping footsteps of crewmen sounded as his sailors made it to the upper deck. He motioned to them.

"Men, follow me!" he called out. Looking at Katara, he nodded. "You know what to do." She nodded back, a grim salute, and ran to the bow of the ship. Suki met her there.

"Toph can hold the ship together for a few minutes more, at most," she said. From where they were, the girls could see Zuko and five burly men, plus the freckled soldier, pushing and heaving to move the ten-ton bison. Appa snuffled loudly and snorted in annoyance; the men pushed all the harder. Katara turned to her friend.

"Suki, I want you to get everyone belowdecks up here," she said quickly. The Kyoshi was understandably confused. "Ask Toph if she can let go of the back half of the ship and somehow… I don't know, seal the rest of it – it will be easier for Appa to push." Suki's eyes widened, but the entire day had been spent attempting the impossible, so she decided not to pursue it. She had run ten feet when she heard a piercing scream; turning around she realized in shock that a rogue icicle had flown from its cave or glacier and pierced most of Katara's right thigh. Gritting her teeth through the pain, the waterbender looked to where Suki had frozen in place.

"GO!" she said harshly, and the Kyoshi snapped out of it and ran. Zuko heard the scream and looked back, but could not stop now: the men had managed to get one set of legs and the tail over the steel railing, and were still heaving. He saw a deadly ice dagger buried a hand deep into Katara's thigh; from his heaving, sideways perspective he saw her grit her teeth and yell at the Kyoshi girl. Knuckles white, the waterbender forcefully yanked out the ice; a pool of vivid red blood welled up, but Katara did not have the time or agility at that moment to make a tourniquet. Instead, she froze the outer layers of blood to prevent the rest from flowing and stood again, steadying herself on another rail.

_Do you remember her?_

_Don't worry, you will._

She's unforgettable.

Smiling grimly, Zuko returned his attention to the daunting task at hand.

-

_Belowdecks._

-

"Xue Bao, when does this nightmare _end_?" drawled Mai. She and her chaperon, as well as two maids and the ship's cook were all huddled against the wall near the navigation room. Huddled was a bad way of putting it; instead, the group was holding for dear life to a metal pipe that ran the length of the wall and disappeared around one of the ship's corridors. The maids were terrified out of their wits, and the cook was praying that the end would come swiftly. Xue Bao had opened her mouth to reply when someone crashed down the stairs, face chapped and eyes wide.

"The Fire Lord needs everyone on the upper deck," she gasped. Suki's eyes sparked wildly, daring them to question the order. No one did; instead, they followed directions and hurried upstairs. All save one: Suki turned to run into the deep center of the ship and find Toph but faced Mai instead.

"Where's Zuko," she asked suspiciously, watery golden eyes narrowing. Suki snorted impatiently. _I do not have time to pretend I like this girl,_ she thought, and pointed up the stairs. "Where everyone else is," she replied shortly, and abandoned her to go find Toph. Mai followed her back down the corridor until she disappeared. _Insolence_, she mused, and made her way slowly up the stairs as she pondered how she would punish that. Two dozen feet below the upper deck, a tiny raven-haired metalbender struggled to press together a steel-and-iron monster. Suki found her, red-faced with exertion and muscles bulging.

"Toph," said the warrior hurriedly.

"Come on fan-girl, I need some good news right about now," choked out the girl, trying not to waste her breath. The Kyoshi grimaced.

"Katara wants to know if you can let go of the back half of the ship… and somehow seal the remaining part." The blind girl's eyes widened incredulously.

"That's a tall order," she said dryly. "But here, let me see what I can do." Suki didn't even have a chance to move. The tiny earthbender drew in a massive breath and stretched out her arms, calling the metal to her and pinching it together. With her feet, she drew iron sheets from the floor and ceiling together to create a makeshift wall, grunting with the struggle. She coordinated her hands and feet to weave the metals together, giving one last monumental push to mesh the thing flat. The earthbender's muscles suddenly relaxed; Suki, awestruck, was nearly pushed front-first into a network of pipes as the ship shuddered and released tons of metal into the ice-ridden ocean. On the upper deck, seven men managed to get the last of a ten-ton bison off the ship and into the frigid ocean. Katara drew her element in around her; the water swirled and arched, forming a large bubble of shifting shades of blue and white. The bubble grew to encompass half of the imperial ship and the sky bison's head; protected from sheets of snow, rain, and ice, Zuko's men could now form makeshift reigns for the bison.

"Appa, YIP YIP!" yelled Katara and the Fire Lord simultaneously, and the beast strained its great heft, pushing at the craft with its forehead. Zuko steered the entire contraption around so the bison was behind the ship and pushing in the direction of the South Pole shore as Suki and Toph ran to join the others on the upper deck.

"How far out are we?" shouted Zuko to one of his men. The man shook his head.

"The navigation room was near the back of the ship, sir!" _Which is now underwater,_ thought Zuko savagely. Turning to Katara, he tried again: "Do you know how far we are from your village?" In the single moment it took Katara to listen to him, she allowed one flying ice chunk to make it through her bubble.

The entire ship watched in horror as their bubble disappeared and a waterbender, knocked unconscious by a brick-sized block of solid ice, fell heavily to the steel deck.

-

_Southern Water Tribe._

-

The wind had settled slightly, but snow still scoured the ground and walls of the Southern Water Tribe. Aang looked worriedly out the ice block window, occasionally airbending himself level with it to try and make out the landscape better. Sokka braided rawhide, angled his boomerang, cleaned his sword – anything but think about his girlfriend out there, in a blizzard. Hakoda of the water tribe had paced the area before the hut's door into a deep welt in the ground; ice fell noisily on the walls and roof, although according to him the blizzard had yet to hit full force. It was almost possible to hear the waves from the door…

_Knock._

Hakoda stopped pacing and strained his ears – silence, and then:

_Knock._

Aang and Sokka raced to the door as Hakoda fought to open it.

_Knockknockknock._

The door flew open. A burly man holding two women over his shoulder stumbled in, wet and frostbitten. Another man followed, carrying an older woman. After him came a freckle-faced sailor, holding a light-eyed, slightly chubby warrior girl. Sokka's eyes widened.

"No," he whispered, and rushed to take her from the man's arms. The man gave her up gratefully and collapsed, taking care to keep away from the snow blasting in through the open door. Aang's worried eyes trained themselves on a black lump coming slowly through the built-up snow; Hakoda, man that he was, found it necessary to suppress tears at the sight. He opened the door a little wider as his daughter was carried in by a scarred boy, too cold to even shiver. Her hair streamed downward; both their arms were riddled with slivers of ice, and the girl's thigh was bleeding freely, dripping scarlet blood onto the hut's floor. The boy's face and back had been cut badly, to the extent where his blood began to run, mingling with the girl's on the floor. Hakoda closed the door and rushed to his daughter. The scarred boy looked at him helplessly.

"Save her first," he whispered, and collapsed. Only then could his most grievous injury be seen: a piece of sharpened steel, mayhap part of a ship once, had embedded itself in his left lower back deep enough to touch ribs.

_What are you doing?_

_Saving you._


	8. Mana

_Disclaimer: _I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Ahn Li, Cho Li, Dao, Yun, Naomi and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

_Packed dirt._

_He was walking away from her, feet pounding the packed dirt as he took step after step after step._

_She reached out to him, but for some reason she remained frozen; looking ahead, she saw that he did not slow his pace._

_Her voice shrilled and then went hoarse as she called and called after him, but the packed dirt yawned into an eternity between them._

_"No! No! NO!"_

"No!" shouted the young woman aloud, sitting up abruptly to escape her glaringly vivid nightmare. Doing so caused tendrils of pain to shoot across her arms and legs; frenzied beatings against her ribs told the girl she was alive and not alone. Wherever she was, it was dark; she would have to let her eyes adjust before she could attempt to move or even croak for some water. Some time passed; Suki was now able to see that she sat in a bunk near the floor. A down-filled quilt hung from the sides of the bed above, blocking light from entering and preventing nosy bystanders from gawping at the injured girl. She checked herself before reaching to pull the makeshift curtain aside; unable to see because of the quilt, she nonetheless realized that she wore only tattered wraps and her skin had turned gummy. Someone heard her movement, and thrust the curtain open a stitch to hand in spare robes and a parka. The Kyoshi girl eased herself into them, taking care to avoid pain as much as possible; finally pulling the curtain aside, she realized that her gummy skin was due to a jelly-like substance spread over the numerous cuts spiderwebbing her arms, face, neck and shoulders.

The room was fairly dark; a single figure sat across from her, morosely contemplating a bucket of warm coals set before his pile of skins. He turned to meet her gaze.

_He knows,_ she realized instantly. His face was frighteningly bleak; without a word, she sat next to the boy on the pelts, clasping her hands. She couldn't talk about it yet- _I can't explain myself yet,_ she thought. Instead, she picked at old leather and patchy fur.

"How is Katara?" she asked finally. The boy next to her hunched his shoulders.

"Nobody knows," he said helplessly. "My sister and Zuko were sent across the hall with Gran-Gran and Master Pakku and some others." Defeated blue eyes met stormy grey ones. "They haven't come out yet." Suki reached over to put a hand on Sokka's shoulder, hurt and confused when he slid out of her hold. Making to put her hand back in her lap, she was halted by a sudden change of heart.

A dark hand enclosed hers; fragile, the moment spun between them like a fiber of molten glass. The Water Tribe warrior was the first to break the spell.

"Suki… you should have told me something. Anything," he began, interlacing his fingers with hers. Sighing, he pressed her captive hand to his cheek. "I would have gone back to _kill_ the man that did this to you!" He pulled apart from her and shifted nearer to the coal bucket. "Why didn't you tell me?" The Kyoshi girl pressed her eyes closed and wet her lips nervously.

"I… I didn't know," she said faintly. "I didn't know how you would react." Sokka turned to look at her, his face a mask of disbelief.

"Suki – I asked you to _marry_ me," stressed the boy. He recaptured her hand and kissed it. "Maybe it would have been different if you had fallen in love with someone else-" his voice went very quiet – "but that isn't what happened." He let go of her hand to put his warm one on her slightly protruding belly. Suki tentatively imitated the gesture, putting her hand over his, delighted when a sound kick responded to the warmth. Sokka squared his shoulders and looked at her.

"These children deserve to grow up feeling loved and wanted," he said. Usually the one with the jokes, Sokka was now painfully sober. "I know what it's like to grow up without having parents around too much," he explained_. __It really seems like my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me._ "I wouldn't wish that on anyone." His blue eyes bored into hers; all of the pain, the secrecy, the tears – it all came down to this. The Kyoshi warrior squeaked in surprise as Sokka abruptly drew her into a tight embrace.

"If you'll still have me," he whispered hoarsely, "I'd like the chance to be a good father to your children." Suki began to cry, sobbing silently into Sokka's shoulders. _Maybe,_ she thought, _maybe everything will come out all right._

-

_The room next door._

-

"Zuko! Xue Bao? Maid! _Maid!_" The girl's face was impassive; her vocal chords were anything but. From the bunk above her came an annoyed grunt.

"Listen, knife-girl," said a young female's irked tone. "You really need to cut that out." More from being addressed informally than anything else, the stoic female clamped her mouth shut. She examined herself disinterestedly; her pale skin had acquired a grayish tinge and was covered in some sort of viscous material. She also had a few dully aching bruises peppering her arms and legs, and one larger one near her collarbone. Beyond that, however, she seemed to be fine. _I'm bored. I'm hungry. Go find me some food…_

Toph Bei Fong was cold. She had woken up to someone's bothersome, grating voice yelling for Sparky and the old windbag who'd taken care of fan-girl on the ship. She was also hungry, and she couldn't distinguish anything but for its sound. _My feet can't see a thing from up here!_ A door opened, and suddenly the grating voice was back in action.

"Who are you? Where am I? I _demand_ to see Fire Lord Zuko!" Her imperious tone got her nowhere.

"Listen," said the chilling tone of an older woman. "Consider yourself extremely fortunate that you are breathing easily right now, under a warm blanket somebody else could be using." Toph had never known anyone in the Southern Water Tribe to be outright rude, but this woman was coming remarkably close. From her position in the upper bunk, the earthbender raised her eyebrows.

"I have been sent to tell you that, because you two – yes, you up there, I see you listening – are fit enough to move, you will join the rest of the people in the main area of the hut for supper." Mai's insipid eyes slanted in vexation; the older woman matched her glare for glare.

"Because I was assisted in coming from the other hut, this one is now full beyond capacity," she said silkily. "I suggest you move quickly if you wish to eat." With that threat, Naomi of the Southern Water Tribe turned her back on the wreck survivors and beat feet to the main hut.

-

_Headman's room.­_

-

_They were talking about her._

_She was alive._

_I'm alive, too._

_But she's dying?_

_Not enough coal. She needs heat._

_She needs…_

_Heat._

He cracked his eyes open slowly, registering a huddle of blue parkas around a bed on the far side of the room. He was heavily bandaged, and as he struggled to sit up, he realized that the bandages on his back were soaking through with blood. Dizzily, he realized it was all his own; all of that vital scarlet belonged to him. In the back of his mind, he wondered if perhaps it was his price to pay for all the lives he had taken, his people had taken. Somebody noticed he was awake and offered him water; he took it gratefully. He looked at the bed, almost afraid to ask.

Almost.

"What's wrong with her?" his voice was low and rough, as though the inside of his throat had been scrubbed with sand. The man who had provided the water looked at him grimly.

"She's not well," he said in a low voice. "She's frozen to the quick, and she hasn't so much as stirred. She can't even twitch to warm up her muscles, and none of the healers have been able to, either." He looked hepless. "They say it has something to do with her bending… they think it's sealed her up." He went quiet for a moment. "Her grandmother says they can save her if they can warm her up. But there's just no way to do it." Zuko turned his face back to the bed across the room.

_You're so warm – er, what are you doing here?_

_I thought firebenders rose with the sun._

_I'm free to determine my own destiny._

_It has special properties – I've been saving it for something important._

The firebender grunted and propped himself up on an elbow.

"Take me to her," he said, voice rusty. The man looked doubtful, but called over another Tribe member; hoisting Zuko between them, the trio made their way slowly to the other bed. The huddle of people opened to let them join.

Katara's appearance was a slap in the face; her normally tan skin had faded until it was almost as pale as Zuko's, with a distinctly blue tinge. The myriad of surface cuts to her arms and face had faded into sick-looking bluish welts. A deep gash stretched from her hairline to her ear on the right side of her face; although it was no longer bleeding, Zuko could see the wound was serious. They had blankets and pelts piled over her, but still the waterbender looked as though she were encased in an icicle; there was no way to see the wound on her thigh. He followed her blue shoulders down to an arm that had escaped the blanket; amongst the silent observers in the group, Zuko had failed to notice Aang clutching the Tribe girl's hand.

The sight nearly killed him. _This is _not_ the time,_ he told himself sternly. Zuko picked out Katara's grandmother in the group and directed himself to her.

"Honorable grandmother," he said quietly. The old woman looked at him, eyes dim; it was her only response. "I can help her." Kanna looked at the boy again; she was old enough and had seen and heard enough to realize what the boy was about to attempt.

"It may kill you," she said quietly, putting a wrinkled hand to Katara's sickly pale cheek. Zuko's eyes burned into hers.

"A worthy risk," he said finally, and bowed to the old woman. Katara's grandmother did not bother to explain to anyone; she simply shooed and cajoled the group out of the room. She was the last one out.

"I will be with my grandson outside," said the old woman. "I will come back to check on Katara." Her eyes, set deeply in a network of wrinkles, began to tear. "Please save my granddaughter."

Zuko heard the door close and prepared himself, stretching through some routine drill postures. Even the slightest untoward movement made his skin burn and muscles scream in pain, but he knew he was going to need the warm up. Katara did not move; in fact, if Zuko stood still he could almost see the life draining from her body. Her muscles were refusing to heat up, refusing to move; her gift had frozen like ice in her veins.

_I hope this works,_ thought Zuko, and began to remove pelts and quilts until there were only two left to cover her torso. His cheeks burned as he gently shifted Katara on her side, tucking the covers in around her; trying to avoid opening his cuts, Zuko lowered himself onto the bed next to her, balancing on his right side. _What a typical thing to do,_ thought Zuko, vaguely recalling a copy of 'Evening Heat' a minister's wife had left in his mother's palace apartments. _The rogue does something stupid, the girl freezes, and body heat is the only way out._ He almost smiled, but the reality of the situation pressed down on him like an ink blotter. It was a matter of life and death, now; Katara's heartbeat was dangerously sluggish, and her fingers were graying with creeping frostbite.

Zuko took a deep breath: _in, out – in, out. Draw in, push out._ Slowly, he began to send hotter and hotter blood coursing through the capillaries under his skin. He moved closer to Katara, placing his left hand on her exposed shoulder. A stinging pain in his fingers told him to relax: _careful, Sparky,_ he told himself. _You really don't want to cook your veins._ As it was, there existed a good chance he might end up doing so anyway; he just hoped perhaps he'd be able to accomplish his goal before he was ready for his funeral pyre. He interlaced Katara's right hand in his own. _Now, for her fingers._ Zuko summoned an immense amount of concentration as he moved carefully from body part to body part; time slipped away, becoming irrelevant as Zuko noticed certain areas were assuming a watery pink tinge. He grew excited and sent a surge of hot blood to his limbs, concentrating on the areas where Katara's feet touched his legs. The technique was energy-intensive, and Zuko eventually began to tire. Becoming careless, he allowed a stream of near-boiling blood to reach his brain; the last thing he saw before his body shut down was Katara's mouth twitch. _I did it,_ he thought, and surrendered to the black.

-

_In the hall._

-

Kanna looked around the main hut; most of the Tribe members had gone to sleep, tired from the excitement and work of the night, finding healers and extra blankets and space. She made her way back to the room where she had left her granddaughter with the Fire Nation boy, hardly daring to hope. She opened the door slowly; as her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she began to cry. On the bed lay two teenagers, hand in hand; they were breathing normally, steadily, and their skin was flushed – flushed from the heat.

"They're alive," Kanna whispered, and hurried out to the room where Sokka, Suki, Hakoda, Toph and Aang sat waiting.

"They're alive!"

Snow shook itself free of the walls as bottled emotions finally burst.


	9. Transcendence

_Disclaimer: _I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Ahn Li, Cho Li, Dao, Yun, Naomi and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

"No – I'm ok, really guys!" Katara attempted to wave away her friends. Suki still fussed, hovering over Katara's shoulder as though waiting for her to fall; Sokka, Toph, Kanna and Hakoda all watched her as she carefully made her way into the main room. For nearly a week since she'd suffered her intimate brush with death, Katara had been coddled to the point of suffocation; the moment she had the regained feeling in her legs, she insisted on hobbling back and forth to the main hut to eat, right along with everyone else. "I'm not a princess!" she maintained, and shuffled around determinedly. The group followed her protectively, not sitting on their pelts until Katara had settled herself on an old, quilt-topped mat. Gratefully accepting a steaming bowl of seaweed soup, Katara looked around her; only her family occupied the hut, but it seemed as though they overran the room. The heat from the soup caused a blush to creep up around her face, and she smiled prettily to others.

"Come on guys – let's eat!" Sokka grinned at her and raised a steaming bowl of fileted-fish-and-rice, mouth full of what looked like mountain sorrel sauce.

"Best idea you've had all day," he declared happily, dribbling food out of one corner of his mouth. Suki elbowed him and used her hand to wipe the stain, waving it under his nose.

"Learn some manners," she admonished, and squeaked in surprise when Sokka grabbed her fingers and licked them. From the end of the table, Toph belched loudly. Sokka clapped and dove into a bowl of crunchy lichen crackers.

"So how come Sparky and Twinkletoes aren't eating with us?" asked Toph, battling Sokka for the last cracker. Katara's smile faded. From what she had heard, Zuko had brought her in, mostly frozen himself, and asked her father to see to her first. The healers of her Tribe had been unable to heal her; her waterbending had done something to her, blocked up her veins or something. Zuko had manipulated his bending and ended up saving her – again. Katara remembered none of this; she had woken up to a crowd of people, right hand tingling strangely. _I haven't even been able to thank him,_ she thought sadly. Seeing the change in her expression, Suki lightly touched Katara's shoulder with a questioning look on her face. The waterbender forced a smile and waved Suki away.

"Well, I don't know about Zuko," she said quickly, "but Aang's out in the stables with Appa and Momo." Sokka nearly spat out his rice ball.

"_Momo's_ here?" Katara nodded.

"Apparently, he made his way to the Fire Nation on the ship that brought you guys home." She ladled some seaweed soup into her bowl of fish and rice. "He came back on the ship that pulled in yesterday to take Zuko home." Sokka's mouth was still agape.

"Watch it, you're catching flies," said Suki dryly, and with all due haste the Water Tribe warrior returned to shoveling food down his throat. Katara resumed eating, but her mind worked much faster than her mouth. _I should at least try to say thank you,_ she decided with conviction, and drained her bowl of soup.

"I'll be back," she said to the group. Hakoda and Kanna, who'd been quietly discussing the repairs that needed to be made to the village, stopped to watch her retreating back. Hakoda's face tightened visibly, but Kanna put a hand to his shoulder and raised her eyebrows.

"Let her have this chance," said the old woman wisely. "He gave her a new lease on life." The older Water Tribe man sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"I wish Kaya were here," he admitted softly. His voice floated across the table to Sokka, who stopped putting food in his mouth for a moment to hug Suki around the shoulders. The meal resumed, and from her place down the hall Katara could hear the sound of chopsticks and slurping as her family wolfed down the first proper meal since the blizzard had struck. Her steps echoed dully on the solid earth of the passageway; the distance to Zuko's room seemed to multiply with every step forward she took. She stopped to steady herself; why was she this nervous? _I thought you were the Avatar's girl!_ Clearing her throat, she reached his door and stuck out her fist to knock; hearing voices, however, she decided to stand outside and wait. Perhaps in another time and place Katara would have strained to listen to the conversation and failed, misunderstanding something vital or not hearing much at all. In the hallway, though, the words seemed to float through the door as though she were destined to listen. She could hear Zuko's husky voice and the raspy, grating one that belonged to his girlfriend. _Need some help?_ Katara remembered the day of his coronation, remembered walking up to his room to tell him the priests were ready. She even remembered inwardly laughing at the head priest's impractical robes as she walked. When she had reached the door, however… _Just don't break up with me again._ Katara shook her head to clear it and listened to the conversation.

-

_Zuko's room._

-

"You know, I'm starting to think maybe there's something between you and the peasant girl," said a mildly irritated voice. "The one you took to defeat your sister? The one apparently you 'saved'?" Mai's eyes narrowed as she regarded her boyfriend from the edge of the bed. "I don't handle my boyfriend waking up _holding hands with a stranger_ very well, Zuzu." The firebender in question could not sit; instead, he paced around the room, excuses flying through his head, each more ridiculous than the last. _She's not a stranger…_ A tiny nagging voice in the back of his head woke up to give its painfully honest opinion: _You know,_ _maybe your excuses are so bad because you don't really feel like giving one._ The Fire Lord ran a hand through his hair silently, not coming up with anything he cared to say. Mai regarded him impassively, but something inside told her she should have been reacting rather differently. _You have no passion for anything! You're just a big blah!_ The knife expert touched her pallid hand to his blue parka.

"I don't know why you didn't ask for your robes," she continued imperiously. "Our ship docked last night." _Our._ Zuko's memories did funny things just then, as he looked down at the borrowed parka and its white fur trim. _She's just trying to separate us!_ A determined set of gold eyes. A challenge. _This way, nobody else gets hurt._ Realizing Mai required a response, he stretched the trim a little and shook his head.

"I'm more comfortable with this," he stated. "It's made for the weather here." Mai wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"But you look like such a-"

"A peasant, I know. I heard you." Zuko fixed her with his mismatched eyes. "So what? Remember, these 'peasants' saved my life. And yours." Mai smirked.

"In that case, go home, make an alliance, and be done with this place," said the girl heartlessly. "I hate it here. It's cold." From outside the door came a muffled sound of anger; Mai didn't seem to notice, but Zuko trained his eyes on the leather boots and bit of white trim that peeked out from under the door. He almost smiled.

"What's with the goofy look-"

"Why can't I be-" both teenagers stopped and looked at each other. Zuko gestured. "You go first." Mai shook her head.

"I was just telling you to get that dumb look off your face," she said, and raised a finger to the scarred side of his visage. But she wouldn't touch it; she never had. "It makes your eyes look even more mismatched than they are." _It's just __that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face. _A warm brown hand traced the rippled flesh. _But maybe you could be free of it._ He laughed unexpectedly, a bitter laugh of realization.

"Why can't I be myself with you?" he asked Mai suddenly. "Why should _I_ always be the prefect prince? The perfect everything? Why," he continued in a blitz of inspiration, "why do you pretend like I don't have this scar?" He could see it clearly now, had noticed that although the scar covered most of his face – a physical representation of his trials and tangled destiny – Mai had never mentioned it, never offered comfort or solace about his past, or even a listening ear. Mai's head snapped straight up and her eyes narrowed.

"Listen, Zuko," she said gratingly. Her tone made it perfectly clear he was treading dangerous ground. "I stood up to Azula for you. I went against one of my oldest friends because I _love-_"

"Do you?" he asked quickly. "Do you love me? Enough to catch me if I'm falling to my death faster than you can see?" He turned to her. "Would you jump in front of lightning for me?" The girl, convinced that something had been slipped in his tea, gazed at him uncomfortably.

"Zuko, you're being irrational," she said slowly, and patted a space on the bed next to her. "Calm down." He disregarded the command and instead grabbed her hand. Her pale cheeks streaked red.

"Mai… what do you want from me?" he asked her seriously. His earlier laugh had faded into utter sobriety. The girl pondered for a moment; from the door came a surprised squeak as Katara toppled to the floor. _That's what you get for listening too close to the door,_ nagged a Toph-like voice from the back of her head. Katara dusted herself off and resumed her station at a small hole in the wooden slats. For some reason, it seemed terribly important that she hear this out. Knife-girl was talking again; Katara pressed herself to the wall.

"I guess I just want to be taken care of," said the Fire Nation girl. Silence stretched between them. "And it would be nice to be taken care of by someone you don't hate." Zuko's eyes widened. So he was _convenient? _He voiced as much to Mai, who shook her head.

"Don't get me wrong," she told him. "You're brave, and all that – we just haven't had much of a chance to get to know each other. Beyond the physical," she added, and a blistering heat rose in Katara's face. "But I guess once we're married, we'll have time to do the real falling in love thing." Zuko was shaking his head. This was wrong – this was so wrong. He wasn't in love with Mai, and for whatever she said, it seemed as though the feeling was mutual. His mind reeled with the new information, thoughts swirling disconcertedly as images struggled to form themselves into coherent ideas.

"Oomph!" the door crashed open and Katara landed in a heap before them, red-faced with embarrassment. Mai looked at her and turned up her nose.

"I'm sick of this place," she said for the second time that day. "I'll see you on the ship." With that, she stepped over the waterbender and disappeared out the now-vacant doorway, presumably to join the political entourage that had been sent to recover the Fire Lord. Zuko stared at Katara for a moment and then offered her a hand.

"I'm so sorry," she said, standing and brushing off her parka. "I don't know what came over me, I-"

"It's ok if you heard," he said quietly. "It was going to happen at some point anyway." Katara bit her lip and stared at the floor. Wordlessly, she grabbed his right hand and pulled him into a hug.

"I never got to thank you for saving me," said the waterbender into his shoulder. "Gran-Gran says nobody else was able to do anything… you're the reason I'm alive." Fighting the heady sensation of being buried in her hair, Zuko pulled away slightly to catch her eye.

"I only returned the favor," he said quietly, and pointed to his abdomen. Katara put her palm flat on the area, feeling the knot of scar tissue even through the boy's parka. She frowned.

"Has it gone down?" she asked in confusion. "It used to be a really big knot." Zuko nodded and moved to sit down on the bed. Katara sat on its other end; somehow, it didn't seem crowded.

"When I was warming you up… or… whatever," he said, blushing, "the scar began to react weirdly to the change in my body temperature." Katara's eyes were wide. "It kind of all… melted together," finished the boy, pressing his hands to his knees. Katara reached to feel the knot again, and suddenly-

"KATARA! KATARA!" It was Suki, and she was screaming. Katara glanced at Zuko apologetically and ran down the hall, into the room Suki had shared with Toph. The young woman's eyes were glazed over in pain, and a puddle of liquid pooled around her ankles. _No! It's too early! It's too early!_ Zuko burst through the door, having followed Katara.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked, panting, and Katara nodded, throwing pelts on the floor to form a makeshift bed.

"Get Gran-Gran," she said. "And Sokka. Tell them the baby – babies – are coming _now_, whether we like it or not." Zuko nodded and sped out the door at full-tilt; back inside, Katara struggled to get Suki comfortable on the pelts. "Come on Suki. You kicked my brother's butt, you can do this!" The warrior smiled through tears as the memory came back to her.

"Not that – there was – much to kick," she said between breaths, biting her lip as the first contractions began to roll through her body. Katara grabbed the girl's hand.

"Squeeze," she commanded. "It helps." Suddenly, Gran-Gran was there, shooing Zuko and Sokka out of the room; Suki gave a bloodcurdling shriek and the old woman began issuing orders and preparing for the mess to come.

Sokka crouched by the wall outside the door, shoulders hunched and eyes pressed shut. She was going through so much pain… Zuko crouched next to him and put a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of solidarity.

"She'll be fine," he said, and wondered where that came from. From inside, Suki issued another excruciating scream. Both men winced.

-

_Some hours later.­_

-

The room had been quiet for a length of time now; just outside it, the hallway had been churned into so much sludge by restless feet. At the rustle of the door, Sokka and Zuko both grew alert and waited for it to open. Finally, an exhausted Katara came out back-first, holding the door and a quilted bundle. Sokka pounced.

"How is she?" he asked worriedly. "What happened?" Katara smiled tiredly.

"Suki's inside. She wants to see you." Sokka dashed in there without waiting for another word. Zuko looked at Katara.

"Where are the babies?" he asked quietly. "They didn't-" Katara unfolded a corner of the bundle to reveal two tiny, wrinkly faces. The Fire Lord's eyes widened as they took in the small, sleeping red life forms that were human children.

"A boy and a girl," whispered Katara "Suki wants to name the boy Ikkuma and the girl Kaya." Zuko was still marveling over their size; each one could fit in his palm, with only a little leg left over. Katara grinned at the stunned teen's face. "Look," she said, and tickled the girl's nose with the pad of her finger. To Zuko's surprise, the infant screwed up her face and sneezed sparks. His eyes widened in shock.

"She's a-"

"Firebender," finished Katara, and nodded.

"And the other one?" inquired Zuko. Katara shook her head.

"I don't know yet. Fire is the only element they can produce naturally, so we'll have to wait until he's older."

_We'll._

_We. _

_Us. _

Katara grinned down at the bundle. "Isn't that right, Ikkuma? Isn't that right?" The infant burbled happily, and something about the scene made Zuko snap.

_The Fire Nation took my mother away from me!_ That's something we have in common.

_I thought you had changed. _I have changed!

_Yes, even Zuko._ Mai… what do you want from me?

_Maybe I just want to take care of _me_ now! _But what if…

What if _I_ want to take care of you?


	10. Maitsiak

_Disclaimer: _I _do not _own Avatar, its characters, designs etc. Those are © Mike and Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Ahn Li, Cho Li, Dao, Yun, Naomi and other original characters are © me, Lady Asvin.

-

"Thank you, _toushi_ Hakoda," said the older man. "Without your assistance, the already-troubled Fire Nation would suffer from the loss of another leader." The man clasped arms with the Tribal chief. "I thank you as the Fire Nation regent – and as an uncle." Both men bowed, and Hakoda offered Iroh a seat before a beautiful ice sculpture in the ceremonial chamber of the headman's hut.

"The Fire Lord should be here soon," said the chief. "I sent my daughter to get him directly." Iroh smiled, a Noh mask smile that hid his curiosity.

"May I trouble you for some tea?" he asked kindly, and Hakoda bowed.

"Of course," he replied, and walked outside the door for a moment. Iroh heard him ask a servant girl for tea, and then he walked back in. Iroh waited until he sat to speak.

"I understand servants are not customary in the Water Tribe," he began. "Has the custom changed since I was last here?" Hakoda looked surprised at the odd question, but it seemed to be an honest one.

"Ahn Li and her family – her mother, husband, and children – were displaced by the blizzard," said the warrior. "I have offered them work in the main hut in return for room and board." He reddened slightly. "It is not usual of me to ask anything of Ahn Li directly, but I have truly no idea where to find and brew tea here." Iroh chuckled and changed the subject.

"My nephew has chosen to stay quartered here instead of rooming aboard his ship until the ice has cleared," he said. "I was just wondering – excuse an old man's curiosity – if you knew why?" Hakoda did not know the answer, and said as much.

"Just after the blizzard, he could not be moved because of his injuries. But to remain there for two months – it makes me wonder if perhaps it is not my daughter's or Ahn Li's cooking that makes him stay." Hakoda was joking, but the offhand comment made Iroh think. Just then, a timid knock sounded on the ice doorway.

"Your tea, _toushi_ Hakoda, Honored General," said Ahn Li, putting down the tray and serving the steaming liquid with care. A baby strapped to her back caught Iroh's eye, and he put out a finger for the baby to grab.

"You have quite the adorable baby girl," said the old firebender. Ahn Li blushed and smiled.

"Thank you," she said timidly, and picked up the tray. As she walked away, the baby grinned and blurted out happy streams of baby talk, waving her arms and kicking her young mother's back. Iroh sighed and drank his tea; the headman did not know how to start a new conversation, so he remained silent as well. The tea had not even stopped steaming when quiet voices and the occasional low chuckle floated down the hallway. Iroh put his tea down and his nephew came into the room, smiling, and hugged his uncle.

"Zuko, you look well," said the old man happily. He then crushed his nephew into a tighter embrace and coughed in relief. "I was so worried, nephew. We did not get word of the blizzard until nearly a month after it had passed." Zuko wrestled himself out of his uncle's arms and gave a faint half-smile.

"Luckily, during the war you get to know who your real friends are," said the boy huskily. "If it hadn't been for Katara, the ship would have gotten caught in the incoming blizzard and all aboard would have been killed." The waterbender, still standing in the doorway, blushed from the praise. Iroh beckoned her over.

"_Toushi_ Hakoda, you have a wonderful daughter," said the older man. Hakoda beamed, and Iroh directed himself to Katara. "Young lady, you have rescued my nephew – again," he said, drawing a confused look from her. "Yes, Katara, I questioned him endlessly about what happened during the final battles of the war. And I know about his scar," he continued, and pointed at his nephew's midsection. Now he turned to Zuko.

"Nephew, the polite thing to do would be to ask her how you can repay her," said Iroh, and Katara shook her head.

"General Iroh-"

"Call me Uncle," said the man.

"Uncle Iroh, then." Katara bit her lip. "Zuko already made that offer – when he left, before the blizzard. But since he's the one who saved me, I don't feel right about taking him up on it." Iroh looked back and forth between the two reddish faces whose eyes avoided each other's at all costs. An old man's wisdom kicked in and he smiled.

"Well," he began, and addressed everyone in the group. "I believe your brother was the Water Tribe's representative at the Fire Nation court until recently, am I correct?" Katara nodded. Iroh pressed on. "I understand that he is now… occupied. Which leaves the position open." Anyone looking through the doorway would have noticed two sets of eyes light up; two sets of hands begin shaking, and two happy mouths curling into smiles. It was all Katara could do to keep her excitement in – she would miss home, but it was an adventure! Until the blizzard, she had forgotten how much she missed that rush of adrenaline that came with exploring the different and fighting the unexpected. As quickly as it came, though, her smile faded.

"I – I can't," she said, and Zuko's gold eyes flashed.

"Why not," he asked tersely. Katara directed herself to him and Iroh.

"I am fifteen now," she said in a small voice. Seeing that they did not know what she meant, she pushed ahead. "I am eligible for marriage… I am supposed to stay here, in the Tribe, and help around. When I get a proposal…" she shrugged, and turned to her father. "I haven't gotten any yet, but when I get a proposal, my father will arrange for the alliance to take place, and that's that." She turned back to the firebenders; only Iroh noticed that the ice sculpture before them had started to drip. "But I have to stay here for the proposals to come – nobody's going to ask for a never-present bride." Hakoda thought it best not to mention that Katara had received seven proposals; he did not care for the men, as some were very old and some were rude or had intolerant families. None were good enough for his daughter. Katara was talking again.

"I'm sorry, Gen- Uncle Iroh," she corrected herself. Her blue eyes were starting to shine with unshed tears. "The offer is very kind." Then, before she could make a fool of herself, the waterbender took off running; blinded by her tears, she crashed into the stable and threw herself into a pile of straw to sob. _Why do I feel like that meant so much to me? It's just a job…_

Back in the ceremonial room, the Fire Lord clenched his fists and the ice sculpture lost its head.

-

_Stables._

-

"Hi Katara." Katara pulled her head out of her sleeve for a moment, sniffling and red-eyed, to regard the young Airbender. _Sniff._

"Hey Aang." _Sniff._ The Avatar sat beside her on the hay.

"I haven't seen you much lately." Katara sat up and rubbed her eyes, sneezing when some hay dust got in her nose.

"You've been busy, I've been busy," said the waterbender, forcing a faint smile. A silence stretched between them, miles long. Aang looked at the stable roof and sighed; there were still things that needed to be said, but Katara was in no shape for the discussion.

"I asked your father to marry you," he blurted out, and Katara's head snapped to him in surprise. Her father hadn't told her anything about a proposal.

"Wha- what did he say?" As a woman in the Water Tribe, if her father had promised her to Aang, she had no choice but to live out the mandatory _okrarpok_ period – the period in which she would decide whether or not she really wanted to marry him. But her father had said nothing.

"He said that I should ask you myself," replied the airbender, tracing his finger in the straw. Katara choked in surprise – her father was the headman, a bastion of tradition for her people. He was telling a boy to ask her for her hand directly? Aang cleared his throat. "I was kind of hoping he'd say it was ok. Then we could try out that thing – what is it called?"

"_Okrarpok_," replied Katara faintly.

"Yeah. That thing where get together to figure things out." The young man sighed. "I was hoping I could make you fall in love with me." Katara was simultaneously angry and grateful; not knowing which emotion to express, she settled for sneezing.

"Aang-"

"I know, Katara. You told me. I just…" he never finished his sentence because the doors to the stable crashed open and Zuko walked in. "I'll tell you later," he said, and bowed to Zuko. It took every inch of Aang's pride and self-restraint to walk away from the waterbender, to leave her alone with his firebending master. He clenched his fists and bent air to release his frustration as painful memories took hold.

-

_Several days earlier._

-

_"Katara! Katara!" Aang rushed down the hallway of the main hut, running into Hakoda on the way. "Do you know where Katara is? I just got a message that the Earth King has decided to permanently form an alliance with the Fire Nation!" Hakoda pointed into the residential area of the hut._

_"Katara is in there, feeding Ikkuma and Kaya." His eyes softened. Aang bowed his thanks and sped on down the hall, stopping short when he heard voices through a half-open door._

_"Yes, Kaya. Who's a good girl?" A baby burbled happily. "Mommy's asleep, _annen_. Do you want to go with Uncle Zuko so I can feed your brother?" Another gurgle. "That's a girl." Fabric rustled as a baby changed hands. Grabbing Ikkuma, Katara turned to look at Zuko._

_"Thank you so much for helping me with them," she said gratefully. "Sokka's doing the work of four, now… and Suki's just exhausted." Zuko grunted, changing the baby to his left arm._

_"It's the least I could do," he said, and gently jiggled the baby like Katara was doing. Unfortunately, the firebender did not possess a natural talent, and the baby began to wail. Katara patted her forehead and cheeks with her free hand, hoisting Ikkuma in the other._

_"_Annen_, _annen_," she said softly. "It's ok Kaya." Zuko met Katara's eyes as she looked up._

_"What does that mean?" he asked curiously. Katara grabbed a rag and dipped it in sea cow milk._

_"What does what mean?" She slid the end of the rag into Ikkuma's mouth and he sucked contentedly._

_"_Annen_," he said. Katara had almost forgotten that he was not Water Tribe in the last few months; moments like this reminded her._

_"It means angel," she said, and dipped the cloth in the bowl again. Zuko looked at her._

_"_Annen_," he whispered. Outside the door, Aang made a quick about-face._

-

_Stables, present._

-

"Hey." The single one-word greeting they always exchanged hung in the air, heavy with unasked questions and unresolved tensions.

"Hey," she replied, and stood. Zuko shifted uncomfortably, running a hand through his shaggy hair. "How's your uncle?" The firebender sighed and messed with the fur lining of his parka.

"He wishes you would take your brother's post," said Zuko's half-voice quietly. "But he knows the customs here, so I think he understands." Katara looked up at him, almost defiantly.

"How's Mai?" She had no idea why she asked that question; it just came out, loud and obnoxious, blowing the obvious right into everyone's eyes. Zuko pressed his own eyes closed and touched a lightly scarred finger to his temple.

"She wants to be taken care of," he said finally, and Katara was thrown at the unexpected answer. Not sure what to say to that, she pushed her shoulders back and held her head proudly.

"That's because she's Fire Nation," said Katara loudly. Hurtfully. Shooting him a defiant gaze, Katara continued. "I can take care of myself." She didn't know why, but she wanted him to fight. To argue with her, to defend himself and his nation. Instead, he shoved his hands in his parka pockets.

"But can you let someone take care of you?" Her shoulders immediately dropped, right along with her stomach; something important was happening here, and her heart thrummed with its instinctive reaction. Her breath came in little heaves.

"Are you – are you offering?" she asked in a whisper. Zuko scratched his head.

"I don't really know what I'm doing," he answered honestly. "I though I was doing the right thing with Mai, a Fire Nation noblewoman. But the only time I ever got mad at her, I yelled the truest thing there is: she is passionless. Almost emotionless." Katara didn't know why he was telling her this, but she waited. Zuko took her hand and touched it to his scar, closing his eyes.

"Katara… you have done so much for me. I want to do something for you, too." Katara stepped back indignantly.

"So you just want to repay me?" She asked angrily, pulling her hand in. Zuko shook his head.

"No. Because I'm selfish," he said, and Katara's look softened. "I want to help you, yes – but because I want to see you smile." His voice grew husky. "I want to see you smile like the day the twins were born, and I want to see that flash of determination on your face when you're facing something that looks impossible." His voice died down to a whisper. "And I'm selfish, because I don't want somebody else keeping you here, while you become a mother and a grandmother and a great-grandmother, because I want to see your face when that happens." He took a deep breath. "I'm not assuming you'll be happy with me, of course… but maybe… maybe I could try to make you happy. And if not, at least be there when you come across someone who does." His face was pained as he added the last bit. Katara stood there, wide-eyed; she resembled a fish for all she moved her lips silently. Finally, the corners of her eyes tilted up in a smile, a real smile.

"Does that mean I'm getting on that ship tomorrow?" she asked deadpan, and His Honorable Highness Fire Lord Zuko swept her off her feet in a rib-crushing hug.

-

_Years later._

-

"Ikkuma! Kaya! Get over here _this instant_! I do _not_ want you ruining your aunt's return with mud on your – _Sokka, what are you doing_?" Suki watched as her husband scrambled up a snow bank and threw a ball of the powdery stuff at his children. _Honestly, he's worse than them sometimes,_ she thought. Just then, a foghorn sounded: the Imperial Ship of the Fire Lord was entering the South Pole harbor. Suki rested a hand on her heavily pregnant belly, wondering if three years in the Fire Nation had changed her friend. The ship docked, and a heavy steel gangplank dropped to the floor. A small entourage of soldiers headed the group, followed by several ministers and clerks. Suki looked at all of them disinterestedly.

"Look," shouted someone. "There she is!" The crowd began to whisper as a young woman, dressed in white brocade and blue shantung silk with delicate silver embroidery, walked down the gangplank. Her hair was loose and wavy, reaching down past her buttocks; silver-and-moonstone ornaments gathered some of it on either side of her face. She reached the snow and looked around, elegantly turning her head until she saw her family.

"Dad! Gran-Gran!" she squealed, and broke into a run. Suddenly, she was thirteen years old again and had never left the Water Tribe. The crowd looked again at the gangplank. The Fire Lord emerged, in red and gold silk; his straight black hair had been picked up in a topknot with half of it hanging loosely past his shoulders, and his coronet gleamed like the sun itself. The Fire Lord bowed to the crowd and then made his way to where the Water Tribe ambassador was. Bowing again, he addressed her father.

"_Toushi_ Hakoda – thank you again for your warm reception," he said respectfully. Hakoda bowed in return. "Before I overstay my welcome, I have one last favor to ask." Hakoda looked at him carefully. Zuko cleared his throat. "_Toushi_ Hakoda, I ask for your blessing and your daughter's hand." Hakoda looked, surprised, at Katara; she was smiling shyly and blushing as she unfastened something from her neck. Handing it to him, Hakoda realized that it was her mother's pendant.

"Turn it around," she said, and he did: behind the water tribe symbol carved many years ago by Master Pakku was a freshly carved, moonstone-and-onyx inlaid Fire Nation insignia. His eyes almost betrayed him, but instead, he put his right hand on Zuko's shoulder and his left on Katara's.

"Brothers and sisters," he said in his booming voice to the assembled crowd. "I am very proud to announce that my only daughter – Katara – has finally received my blessing." The crowd whispered and those in the back tried to catch a better glimpse of what was going on. "To that end – may the _okrarpok_ between Katara of the Water Tribe and Fire Lord Zuko be blessed with love and success!" The crowd roared, and for a moment, it sounded as though the voices of the four nations danced on the breeze and settled on their shoulders, a mantle of luck.

"_Maitsiak_," whispered Katara to Zuko as the crowd cheered.

"What does that mean?" he asked. Katara smiled and took hold of his hand.

"It means smart man." From behind them, Kanna smiled inwardly and put her arthritic hand in Master Pakku's.

"_Maitsiak_," she repeated softly.

The crowd never stopped roaring.


End file.
